


Finding Your Place

by goobjones



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Black Hermione Granger, Body Modification, F/F, F/M, LGBTQ Character of Color, LGBTQ Female Character of Color, Lesbian Character, Lesbian Character of Color, M/M, Muslim Character, Non-Canon Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:53:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 51,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26038243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goobjones/pseuds/goobjones
Summary: Hermione is still raised by white muggle dentist parents but she is black and was adopted on a medical mission to Africa. Unknown to her adoptive parents her parents were magical. The story focuses on feeling out of place being adopted into another country and race. Then feeling different until she discovers she is a witch, and eventually discovering her sexuality at Hogwarts. Set in the modern times unlike the 1990s. All the main characters will be present but different. NOT everyone will be gay, but more of a majority.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Luna Lovegood, Katie Bell/Ginny Weasley
Comments: 21
Kudos: 62





	1. Out of Place

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Harry Potter and am not making any money

Hermione Granger had never fit in. She loved her parents dearly, they had given her a great life when they fell in love with her. She had been in an orphanage in Zambia, Africa after both of her parents had died trying to stop some poachers from attacking animals protected on a nature preserve. There had been efforts to find out if she had relatives in her parents' native England but her parents had both been single children of elderly parents. So for over a year, she had been raised in the orphanage in Zambia, waiting to find out if someone in her parent's life would come looking for her. But nobody had and they had not been in Zambia very long to where they might have made the kind of friends to take in their orphaned daughter. Until that is the Grangers had come to the village where she was staying. In reality, to call it an orphanage would have been inaccurate, there was nothing official, no training for those who ran it. They were a couple from the village who took in any and all abandoned children in the area and did the best they could. So when the Granger's came to the village as part of a medical mission for Doctors without Borders, according to her mother as soon as they saw her in the orphanage they knew they could not return to Britain without her. The fact that she was actually a British citizen that had been stranded in Zambia on the death of her parents made things much easier than an international adoption would normally be. The British embassy in Zambia did everything they could to ease the adoption and return her to her native country, she also suspected her parents had used some of their wealth to help with some obstacles. Her grandparents had been well off before their deaths after all dentistry school was not a cheap endeavor and yet her parents had graduated with no student loan debt. All this despite going to dentistry school in America. They had met in dentistry school at NYU her parents being from different parts of England but finding a shared experience of missing British food and TV among other things. 

That had been 9 years ago and Hermione was getting ready to have her 11th birthday. With her grandparents being deceased in the past couple of years, her Grandma Granger being her last grandparent to pass when she was 9 years old. The birthday celebration would most likely be just her and her parents. Hermione didn't consider herself to be an unpopular girl at her primary school, she wasn't bullied or teased despite being one of a handful of black children in her entire school. She supposed that in part was due to attending a prestigious private school Queen's Gate in South Kennsington since she was 4 years old. She knew her school experiences would have been different in a public school situation and not just for her race. She also had an eidetic memory, she didn't even have to see something for a long period of time for it to permanently stick in her memory. This made her course work in school to be very easy for her and she knew other girls were jealous of her test scores. Even though she was soon to be 11, her classes except for PE were with the 14-year-old girls. Some of the administrators in the school had been recently been pushing to move her even further ahead, but her parents had so far resisted. They knew she struggled socially even with the three year age gap, placing the gap even higher seemed to them to be unnecessarily cruel. But it also explained why her birthday party would not be attended by any of the girls from her school. The girls her age were intimidated by her being promoted ahead of them, and the girls from her classes didn't want to be seen being overly friendly with the girl who hadn't even gone through puberty yet. And unfortunately for her, the neighborhood she had grown up in was populated by other doctors and professionals, many of which either had kids much older or younger than her. 

Then there was the situation with her hair. She loved her mother and couldn't be prouder to be a Granger. You would think that someone who worked with one of the smallest parts of the human anatomy from kids to adults would have nimble fingers, and God bless her mother had tried. But her very white mother had never been able to figure out how to maintain the extremely curly hair of her black daughter. Before they had left the orphanage in Africa the local ladies had done their best to show her mother what she would need to do on a daily basis if it wasn't in some type of braids. But no matter how hard her mother had tried, she just couldn't get an understanding of how to maintain the hair. So before they had left Zambia the woman who ran the orphanage had place her hair into some braids until they could get back and settled in their neighborhood. Her parents didn't think it would be all that hard to find someone to take care of her hair for them. But they were quick to learn a sad truth, unless a woman had grown up around black women, or made the effort to learn herself. The ladies who went to cosmetology schools were not taught how to take care of African hair by their normally elderly white teachers, because their teachers had definitely not been taught when they went to school in the '50s and '60s. By the time she was 9 years old, she had become adept at doing her own hair in cute braids or getting her afro or puffs to look just right each day. She had also been able to make a little pocket money by doing the hair of the younger girls around the neighborhood and her school, who needed their hair done for a dance recital or athletic contest. This money was inevitably spent on books or costly appointments when they did find a salon willing to work on her hair texture. Unfortunately, even when they would swear to her mother and her that the stylist knew how to handle her hair, inevitably what her mother or she had spent their money on, never lasted as long as the money they shelled out had warranted. 

All and all in made it very hard for her to feel as if she fit in anywhere, even before the occasional odd incident had begun to happen to her in the past couple of years. Things that they couldn't even explain. Of course everything changed on the morning of her 11th birthday with a knock on the door after they had just finished up her birthday breakfast.


	2. Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione gets her Hogwarts Letter on a personal visit from Professor McGonagall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still don't own the HP franchise or make any money off of my writing
> 
> I'm not sure when Hermione's birthday is in canon and how it would be dealt with. This is non-AU so I'm going to put her birthday shortly before the Sept 1 Hogwarts Express trip but on an unspecified date in August. Plenty of time for her to still get prepared for the new school.
> 
> We are not given names for Hermione's parents in canon so I'm going to make up some. Daniel and Emily Granger
> 
> I'm not 100% sure of some of the spells. 
> 
> Professor McGonagall was eventually shortened to MM

Hermione had always known she was different; she had ever felt different. She thought it was just the result of being black and growing up with white parents in a white neighborhood. Hermione thought it was because of her brain and her trouble fitting in with kids her age for that reason...She could have never imagined anything like this. She was a witch!

**Earlier that day...**

The Granger family had just finished the birthday breakfast for Hermione's 11th birthday, and she had been upstairs in her bedroom, putting her opened gifts on her bed. She wasn't planning to put them away quite yet because her parents had promised her that they were going to do some shopping in London to get her prepared for the upcoming school year. She had been about to change out of her pajamas when she caught the sight of a strange woman turning up the walk towards the front door of her home. Hermione could honestly say she had never seen anyone who looked like this woman. Even though it was in the middle of a particularly hot summer for Britain, the woman was wearing a set of long dark robes. She appeared to be in her late 60's or 70's with glasses that were utterly out of fashion and her hair up in a sharp and tight bun. Hermione immediately thought she looked like the teachers she had seen in books and stories from in the late 19th or early 20th centuries. What could such a person have to do with her parents? Hermione's curiosity was piqued, but she assumed it wasn't anything to do with her, so she went ahead and changed into a pair of comfortable shorts and a spaghetti strap top to deal with the weather. She had heard her parents welcome the visitor into their house, and she had even heard a shout of exclamation from her parents a couple of minutes ago. But so far, the visitor was still here, and she began to wonder if she should go downstairs and greet their guest. But she didn't want to interrupt if it was an adult conversation and so she began to take a closer look at some of the books her parents had purchased. Then she heard a knock on her door and her mother's voice at the door. 

**Emily:** Hermione, dear. Could you please come down and join your father and me with our guest. 

**Hermione:** Of course, mother, I will be right down. 

Her mother had already turned and walked down the steps by the time Hermione reached the door. If she could have seen her mother's face as she walked down the stairs, she would have been much more nervous about going down and greeting the unknown visitor. As it was, she thought her mother had sounded a little odd when she spoke to her through the door. 

**Daniel:** Hermione, please sit down. We have learned some...news regarding your birth parents that is going to have a significant impact on your life. Before you hear this news, please understand this even though this comes as a shock to your mother and me. We still love you, and this does not change the fact that you are our daughter as much as if we had birthed you ourselves. 

Hermione's mind began to race as she began to wonder what in the world this woman had to do with her birth parents. She could barely remember anything about them and only had one photo of them from shortly after they arrived in Zambia taken by the villagers to welcome their new guests. Hermione took a closer look at the prim and proper woman seated on her parents' love seat across from the couch where she had sat down between her parents. The woman had a pair of deep blue eyes that somehow seemed to suggest that she was much older than she looked. There was also something about her that projected some hidden power to her. She couldn't imagine the woman sitting in front of her being friends with her parents. From what little interaction the villagers had with her parents before their deaths. The villagers had told her adopted parents that even though her parents were serious about their duties as doctors, they were free-loving people away from the clinic. Her mother in the photo had a set of short dreadlocks that she had told them she began just before her trip to Africa. Hermione herself had considered the hairstyle with her lack of options for hairstylist in her neighborhood, but her mind always told her it wasn't time yet. Her mind jarred back to focus when the visitor in front of her addressed her directly. 

**Prof. McGonagall:** Allow me to introduce myself, Miss Granger. My name is Minerva McGonagall, for over 70 years, I have been a professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I taught both of your parents when they attended our school. Your mother was one of my favorite pupils, and she was one of the smartest witches I ever had the pleasure of instructing. Your father, meanwhile, was one of the most excellent Quidditch beaters our school has seen. Even though he wasn't at my house, I have no problem giving him the proper praise. He was extraordinary in his potions studies, but not nearly at your mother's level in his other courses. His desire to pursue being a magical healer had ended his Quidditch career before he even graduated after a particularly brutal shot to his skull. 

Hermione's mind was reeling as a multitude of new facts ran through her mind. Hogwarts? School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? Was her mother a witch? What was a beater?

 **Hermione:** I'm sorry, ma'am. I'm afraid I don't understand. You said that you teach at a school for witchcraft. Not only that, but you taught my parents. My parents were doctors and murdered in Africa! If they were such a powerful witch or wizard, then how could some poachers have killed them? How could they leave their two-year-old daughter all alone in a strange country? Nothing that you are telling me makes any sense!

Professor McGonagall seemed to have to take a few minutes to collect herself before responding to the young girl in front of her. When she finally did, her voice was steady but soft. 

**Prof. McGonagall:** I realize that this is extraordinarily difficult for you to understand or comprehend. I know you are a tremendously intelligent young woman. I have seen your test scores in your muggle schools and am impressed that you managed to skip ahead a couple of grades. As to your parents' deaths...even though your parents were an exceptional witch and wizard, respectively. From what the magical police of Zambia was able to ascertain, your parents were ambushed and attacked from behind before they ever had a chance to defend themselves. We may live longer lives than most, and our healers may be able to heal wounds and sicknesses that a typical hospital cannot. But bullets destroying organs and severe loss are deadly without immediate medical attention no matter who you are. Unfortunately, your parents were not discovered for a couple of hours after the ambush. I don't know if you knew this, but your parents' murderers were captured in Zambia, in no small part to magical law enforcement, and are currently serving life sentences in the Zambian wizard prison. But before you respond, please allow me a short demonstration as I gave your parents the validity of magic. 

The older woman pulled a short stick of what looked to be fir wood and pointed it at the tea kettle in front of her. In a blink of an eye, the tea kettle was a cat! The cat had the same color and markings of the tea kettle that had been in her home for years. Hermione couldn't believe what her eyes were seeing. She would have sworn she was dreaming if not for the tight grip on her knees that Hermione felt from both of her parents that told her she was not asleep.

 **Hermione:** So you are here to offer me a place at your school? How do you know that I'm a witch? Is it possible for magic to skip a generation? 

**Prof. McGonagall:** I'll answer your questions in the reverse order of how you asked them if that is all right, Miss Granger. Yes, magic can skip a generation; in the world, we call such a person a squib. While the name may not be the most gentle that we could use. It is what has been in use for generations. I know that you are a witch for a couple of reasons. The simplest is that you would not have appeared on my list of students to send an invitation letter to if you were not. The school does not make a mistake when it comes to issuing invitations to first-year students. But before you came down, I was speaking with your parents, and they said that in the past couple of months, they have begun to notice events concerning you that had no explanation. I'm sure if you think back, you can think of some that even your parents don't know about that perhaps occurred at school and you thought they were tricks of the mind. So based on those two facts as well as the fact that right now, the table behind your head hovers above the back of the couch, I know that you are a witch. 

Hermione's head had whipped around at the last statement from the guest on the couch and saw the table smash to the floor breaking it's supposedly sturdy legs. 

**MM:** It's quite alright, dear. It is a quick fix. 

With a quick swish of her wand and the word _reparo,_ the table was back in place and looking like new. 

**MM:** As for your first and most important question. Yes, I'm here to offer you a place at my school. We have a train that leaves for the school for the school on September 1, and I would dearly like to see you on the train. I know you never knew about this part of your life. When your parents died, they had not yet formed their will, and your grandparents had recently died. Wizards can do a lot of things, but even for us, sometimes things are missed. The magical authorities in Zambia didn't notify us until after your adoption that your parent been murdered. Also though modern Zambia is much better than it once was, by the time authorities from the magical British government had arrived in Zambia, the paperwork regarding your adoption disappeared. The British embassy knew you had been adopted by British citizens, however, since muggles had adopted you. Our word for people who don't have magic, the decision was made to see if your name came up on the new student list in your 11th year. We knew you had been given the name Hermione by your parents. Your mother had been an avid reader of Shakespeare. 

Hermione couldn't believe how much in her life had changed in just a couple of minutes. Her parents had been magical! A witch and a wizard who had attended a school for magic and met and fell in love there. If she went to this school, she would meet other magical people like herself. Maybe some of them could tell her more about her parents. This was perhaps her chance to finally fill that part of her that had always felt like an outcast. Her mind came back to the conversation when she hard; the professor mentions something about a wizarding bank. 

**MM:** ...Miss Granger comes from a long line on both sides of her parents of witches and wizards, some of them of great renown in our world. I don't know how the finances of a dentist are, but if tuition is something that perhaps is a concern. Your daughter has a vault in our wizarding bank entitled Gringotts that was once her parents. Even though they were relatively young in their lives by wizarding standards, they had both inherited some money. This was perhaps why they were able to pursue healing as careers; our healers are not held in as high esteem as your doctors. But your parents wanted to give back to the world around them. 

**Hermione:** Mom, Dad, I know you want to sit down and talk about this together. But I know that this is something I need to do in my life. I know you love me. But this is an opportunity to find out more about the world of my birth parents. 

Her parents had been sitting on either side of Hermione, and they leaned back away from her to have a silent conversation with their eyes. Their daughter was tremendously intelligent, and they trusted her judgment. They knew as soon as they found out about her birth parents that this is something their daughter would want to pursue. They would never begrudge their daughter the opportunity to find out about the world of their parents. 

**Emily:** Of course, dear. We would never prevent you from pursuing something like this. 

Once the decision was made, all that remained were the logistics. The professor had offered to come back a week before Hermione was to board the train for her new school. She would take Hermione and her parents somewhere that she could shop for all the new supplies she would need to attend her new school in a matter of weeks. Explaining to her old school that she would be attending a boarding school would not be difficult. Students did that all the time at her primary school. 

Hermione Granger was a witch! Now it was time for her to find out her new school. The professor had left a copy of a book entitled Hogwarts: A History for her to read to learn about her new school. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I start my new semester of graduate school tomorrow so I wanted to write a new chapter tonight. I hope to write at least one chapter a week, but I don't know what night I will post them. I hope anyone who reads this, my first multi-chapter story will be patient with me.


	3. Diagon Alley

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still don't own HP- that's JK Rowling

**Diagon Alley**

  
Ever since Professor McGonagall's, she worried that even though it had all seemed so real, that it had all been a dream. The professor had said she would return a week before she was to take the train to Hogwarts. She was going to purchase her books and school supplies and shown where to go and how to get on the train. The night of August 24, she had tossed and turned all night. She very much wanted to go to Hogwarts to learn about her wizarding heritage. Was it all real? She asked her parents if they knew about her wizarding heritage, but they had been as shocked as she that she was a witch. They had told her that the orphanage mentioned that she was the child of exceptional people. But they had assumed they meant the kind of people who would travel to another country to help people and take such a strong stand against poaching. When the professor was there, she indicated that the wizarding bank would be able to tell who the names of her parents. And if she had any inheritance, in all the turmoil after the death of her parents in another country. All of her and her parents' papers with their names were misplaced in Zambia. The orphanage knew she was a British citizen and that her first name was Hermione because she had been able to tell them that much at the age of two. But she had always called her parents mum and papa, so she had no idea of their actual names. So her anxiety was two-fold, she desperately wanted it to be true that she was a witch and would be going to a new school, perhaps she would be able to make friends there. She also wanted to find more about her heritage. She knew nobody had been alive to claim her despite advertisements in papers around England after her parents' death. But she wanted to see if she came from a long line of witches and wizards. Money was no issue to her, and she didn't care if she had an inheritance or not. The professor had explained that her parents could take their pounds and turn them into wizarding currency with no issues.

  
The morning of the 25th dawned bright and promising, a rare occasion for the past week around London. Professor McGonagall had said she would be there promptly at 9 a.m. for the trip to get her school supplies. In the time since the professor's first visit a couple of weeks prior, she had devoured the book Hogwarts: A History twice already even though the book was well over a thousand pages. The book had been thrilling for the young hopeful witch. She couldn't imagine studying subjects such as wizarding history taught by a ghost no less. There were also subjects such as charms, arithmancy which appeared by a kind of wizarding math, ancient runes. Ancient Runes fascinated her. She, like many British children, had been raised on the Lord of the Rings series by Tolkien. She was thrilled to find that the languages he had used in his books had not been created by him as was a legend, but were actual languages in the wizarding world because J.R.R. Tolkien had been a wizard as had C.S. Lewis. They had even both attended Hogwarts!

  
At precisely 9 a.m., Hermione had just finished tying her trainers in her bedroom when she heard a knock on the door. She ran down the steps as quickly as she could to join her parents in opening the door. The professor was there again! She had returned, she was going to Hogwarts. She had been worrying that the school would find it had all been a paperwork mistake, and it was another young girl who should have been going to the school. "Hello, Professor McGonagall," her father said as he opened the door. "Would you like to come in for a moment before we leave? My wife and I are just finishing up cleaning up from our morning breakfast, and we will be ready in just a couple of minutes" Hermione noticed that the professor merely pursed her lips and nodded before stepping inside the house. She could tell that the professor was someone never late for anything. Hermione and the professor stood just inside the entryway. At the same time, her parents did their last-minute tasks, putting the dishes in the dishwasher, slipping into their trainers and tying them up, picking up a light jacket in case of rain later, and finally setting the house alarms. It was then that the professor finally spoke as she had been watching her parents silently in observation.

  
"Now that we are ready to leave, I will explain how we are going to travel to the place where we will be obtaining your daughter's school supplies. The wizarding marketplace is called Diagon Alley, and it is in central London. It is well hidden to prevent non-magical folks from finding it on accident, although it does happen on occasion. I have taken the liberty, and I hope I did not overstep my bounds by having your house connected to what is called the floo network. The floo network is a method of travel by way of the fireplace. It is the method of travel used by Saint Nicholas on his yearly trip around the world." Hermione's jaw had dropped in shock at the last statement, and as she looked at her parents, she could see that they were looking at the professor in a mixture of shock and perhaps even bemusement. This prim and dour-looking woman was telling them that Santa Claus was real! "I can see from your faces that you feel that I'm perhaps pulling a mickey on you. I assure you that Nicholas is, in fact, real and was one of the first students at Hogwarts thousands of years ago. We don't have the time, unfortunately, to explain truth from the legend at this point.  
Nevertheless, we will use the same method of travel that he uses to travel to the entrance of Diagon Alley behind a pub titled the Leaky Cauldron. I have this powder here, which we will take a pinch of and toss in the fire like so." As she tossed the powder into the fireplace that had previously been unlit, a green flame suddenly appeared in the hearth.

  
"Now, please listen carefully. I will take Hermione through first with me. I believe you two can travel safely with a demonstration. What you will do is step into the flames, which don't worry will not harm you in any way. You will take a bit of this powder once you are in flames and throw them down and say clearly, Diagon Alley. When you do this, I advise you to shut your eyes and keep your mouths closed. You don't want any magical soot to get in your eyes or mouth. It won't do any damage, but it will make the eyes water, and it tastes dreadful. You will feel a spinning sensation, and when the spinning stops, you can open your eyes and step out of the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron. Now, Hermione, dear, if you will, please come with me."

  
Hermione stepped into the fireplace with Professor McGonagall and shut her eyes and mouth as had been advised. She heard the exclamation of "Diagon Alley" by her guide to the wizarding world and when she opened her eyes and stepped out the fireplace into the pub. Hermione imagined she felt similar to Dorothy waking up in Oz or Alice after going through the looking glass. Professor McGonagall dressed very only the two times she had seen her, each time in a set of plain black robes. In her mind, she had expected that this was the primary mode of dress for every witch or wizard. However, this expectation shattered as soon as she stepped out the flames into the Leaky Cauldron. She saw witches and wizards of all shapes and sizes, wearing it seemed every color and pattern in their robes. But that wasn't all. She also saw what must have been a magical creature of some sort, another man who appeared to be a giant. This man gave the professor a passing wave as they entered the Leaky Cauldron. Shortly after she had exited the fireplace, she heard a pop behind her, and her parents opened their eyes as stunned as she had been to be entering a whole new world. Little did they know this was just the first taste of what would be a day that changed everything they knew about reality. The professor acting as their tour guide lead them quickly through the back of the Leaky Cauldron to an alleyway seemingly blocked by a brick wall. She walked up to the wall and pulled out her wand, tapping the bricks on the wall in a predetermined sequence, and the bricks moved until an archway appeared, and she leads Hermione and her parents through.

  
If she thought the Leaky Cauldron had been a shock to her system, the entrance into Diagon Alley was going from black and white tv to a 4K HD tv. She saw a wizard take off on his broom from a nearby rooftop, as they walked, she peered down an alleyway and saw a witch appear from seemingly nowhere. The professor was leading them towards a tall, stately building at the corner of the alley that everything seemed centered around, above the doors, it said Gringotts Bank and a motto was below it, but they were moving too quickly. Someone taller than she walked in front of her as she was trying to read it. Before they passed by the two guards standing outside, a pair of creatures Hermione had never seen the like of before except maybe in movies. They appeared to look like the goblins or orcs of the Lord of the Rings movies, the professor stopped and turned to face them, sensing it was time for a quick explanation. "This is Gringotts, the wizarding bank. Goblins run it as you can see by these two guards. Here you will be able to exchange your muggle pounds for wizarding money. But if I could suggest since we know that Hermione comes from a wizarding family of unknown descent, I would suggest we do an inheritance test that will take mere minutes. This test will tell us if she already has any family vaults or funds here at the bank as well her blood status, which in some circles of the wizarding world is very important." Hermione glanced at her parents, and they looked as apprehensive as she did, but they all looked at Professor McGonagall and gave her a swift nod of assent. Seeing this, the witch turned and led the family swiftly through the doors and into the main room of the wizarding bank. The bank lobby that greeted them was unlike any they had ever seen. On each side, there were goblins seated on high chairs looking down on their customers. Papers of various shapes and sizes were flying around seemingly their own volition and snatched out of the air by a goblin. The professor passed the goblins seated on each side and went to the one sitting at the head table in the center, as he was the one in charge. The goblin finished whatever paperwork he was working on before finally looking at Professor McGonagall and her guests. The look that he gave them was hard to read, but it seemed to have a hint of disgust in it.

  
"Greetings, I am Professor McGonagall from Hogwarts, I have a witch here who has been living in the muggle world. However, we know that her parents were both wizards. We do not, unfortunately, know their names as they died in a distant country, and there was a situation where all her parents' paperwork was misplaced. We would therefore like to request an inheritance test as we know that you goblins are the best record keepers in all the wizarding world." Hermione glanced around the papers flying around, seemingly without any rhyme or reason, and wondered at the accuracy of the last statement. Still, nevertheless, it seemed to satisfy the goblin in front of them. He spoke in what appeared to be a speaker type device next to them and signaled them to step to their right and wait for a moment. In a matter of seconds, another goblin approached them and bid them follow him. He leads them down a short hallway and into a private room before he spoke. "Hello Professor McGonagall, it is good to see you. I'm glad that you brought the young witch to us to establish her family connection so early. We have had others brought into the wizarding world, and they for a long time not knowing that they have a vault here with money they could have been using." He then turned to Hermione and her family. "My name is Bullroarer, and I will be administering your inheritance test. After the test, if you have an account manager handling any of your family monies, I will bring them to you and make an introduction. I can see from your face that you a little frightened young lady, do not worry. We goblins may look fearsome. But I promise the test will not hurt more than a moment and heal itself immediately. I can also tell you, Miss, if treat goblins as equals, you will have no issues with us, it is only wizards and witches that treat us a no better than slaves that have any issue with us goblins. Now, if you will please take this short knife and make a small cut in your palm and then allow the blood to drip on to this parchment, we will find out your identity in the wizarding world."

  
Hermione took the short knife and looked hesitantly first at her parents and then at Professor McGonagall. Her parents seemed as nervous as she felt, but the professor gave her a small smile and nodded to her to proceed. Hermione made a small incision on her palm as instructed and held her palm over the parchment on the table provided by the goblin. As soon as the blood hit the parchment, the cut on her palm healed instantly with a warming sensation, and any sting that she had felt disappeared immediately. The goblin picked up the parchment and read the words that appeared quickly and raised his eyebrows in apparent surprise. "Miss…it appears that you do have an inheritance vault as well as a family vault in your name that will pass to you as your parents and other family are already deceased. I will go and fetch your account manager, and he will explain everything to you. Please have a seat, and I will return shortly to make the introduction. Please have a seat while you wait." The goblin then turned and exited the room in apparent haste. Hermione looked at Professor McGonagall, who had a surprised look on her face as well. She had not expected anything major, yet it seemed the goblin had been shocked at the results of the test. They had only been waiting for around 5 minutes when the goblin returned with not one but two goblins with him. Both dressed much more extravagantly than their previous guide, and the second one appeared to be the bank leader or manager to Hermione. However, a glance at the professor quickly let Hermione know that something even more significant was happening.

  
"Miss Granger, this is your account manager Throatripper" at this the first goblin made a short bow, "he was in a meeting with our King Ragnok, and when the King heard who you descended from, he wanted to come and meet you personally." Hermione and her family gasped the fact that the king of the goblins wanted to come to meet her. What did this mean for her ancestry? The goblin king was the next to speak. "Greetings young one, I wanted to come and give your ancestry results in person since I was with your account manager. It is fortuitous that I was with him. However, I am not a believer in coincidence so much as fate. I will not give a full explanation but leave that to your professor at a later time. I will, however, say that you are a descendant from a family that we call the sacred 28. These are the most ancient and noble houses in the wizarding world. Your particular house thought dormant after the death of your parents. Your father was thought last of his house by the wizarding world. Our goblin records knew of your existence, but we had no way to find you, unfortunately. You said that there was a situation with your parents' paperwork in Zambia and here in Great Britain at the time of their deaths. Even though it was nine years ago, I am going to institute an investigation into the situation. A wizarding family such as yourself should not have fallen through the cracks as it did. Bullroarer indicated that your muggle's last name was Granger. We can change your vault names to that, or if you would like, we can file the paperwork to change your name in the wizarding world to your birth name of Shafiq." Professor McGonagall covered her mouth in shock, glancing between the goblins standing in front observe any hint of a joke on their faces. Even though she knew it was not a trait of the goblins to play pranks when it came to financial matters as serious as this, King Ragnok looked between the professor and Hermione and her parents before continuing. "Your parents were Emmanuel, and Melinda Shafiq both were what are known as pureblood wizards. Melinda descended from the Turner family. However, since her parents died before marriage when she and your father married, assets from her vault were added to Shafiq vault. When you were born, your parents opened a trust vault in your name with an initial stake of 250,000 galleons. At the time of your parents' death approximately nine years ago, the value of your parents vault an estimated 10 million galleons. While not one of the largest accounts we have, it was a significant account that merited an account manager the level of Throatripper. Since we knew that you were still alive but unaccounted for, your account manager has continued to manage your parents' account according to their wishes as they were alive. Since then, with investments in both wizard and muggle businesses and interest, your parents' vault has grown to an estimated 13 million galleons, and your trust vault has grown to 750,000 galleons. Since you have not yet reached the wizarding adult age of 17, you do not yet gain full access to your parents' vault. You may, of course, submit a request to the account manager if you need to make a purchase, but since you are starting Hogwarts, you should not need any major purchases for a while. Once you were born and placed on the list for Hogwarts, your parents paid off tuition for seven years of schooling and room and board. Your only expenses will be your books, an animal if you choose and wizarding robes, a wand, cauldron, etc. We will provide you with what amounts to a debit card, much like muggle banks have for your purchases here in Diagon Alley. Since we have an idea of how much you will need to spend today, we will set a limit on the card at the upper range for today, say 1,000 galleons. For regular day to day use, you will have a limit of 100 galleons until you reach the age of adulthood. This amount may not seem like much, but the wizarding world has not had the same inflation issues in the muggle world, and your day to day expenses are not much. Does this seem acceptable?"

  
Hermione's mind was reeling! She was a wizarding millionaire it appears. She was thankful for never had to struggle with money seriously, but now she seriously would never have any issues. Her mind ached at the forethought her parents to have paid off her schooling and set up a trust fund as soon as she was born. Hearing their names spoken out loud had awoken something deep in the recess of her heart and mind. Yes, she could remember now distantly hearing her parents addressed by those names. Her name was Hermione Shafiq, and her heart soared at the knowledge. She may have some distant wizarding relatives somewhere out there. Did she want to enter the wizarding world and her school as a Shafiq or a Granger? Would it hurt her parents if she wanted to be known as a Shafiq in the wizarding world? She didn't think of them as adoptive parents, but as her parents, they never treated her as anything less than their flesh and blood. She turned to look at them to see tears in their eyes, and her heart started to break before her mother spoke. "Darling, I have been able to read your mind and emotions since you were little. You are thrilled to know your true name and are worried that we will be upset if you want to be known by that name. If you want to go by Shafiq in the wizarding world, or even change it permanently in the muggle world as well, you will always be our daughter no matter your name." Hermione choked back a sob as she heard her mother's words, and she turned to look at the king and her account manager.  
"I would like to have the paperwork on my accounts to say Hermione Jean Shafiq if that is possible. I would also like the amount of 500,000 galleons taken from my parents' account and given to my account manager Throatrender as a commission for his masterful handling of my family's money in the time that I was absent from the wizarding world. I don't know if there are any charities in the wizarding world for orphans, but if so, I would like the same amount taken from my parents' account and a donation made in my name to that charity. Besides, I would like 250,000 galleons from my trust vault given to King Ragnok as a thank you from myself to the Goblin nation for their honesty and for your intention to investigate the paperwork issues surrounding my parent's deaths." Hermione could tell from the reactions of the goblins that she had done something unusual that they were not expecting, but had made them extremely happy. Her account manager spoke first, "Miss Shafiq. I thank you for your unexpected generosity. I receive a commission and salary from both vaults, but you have made me a personal friend to the Shafiq family for the rest of the days of my clan. I will make sure that your coffers never run dry, and in fact, it will be my personal goal to make the Shafiq vault the largest in all of Gringotts." The goblin king had been taken back by her speech seemed to ponder for a couple of moments before speaking. "Miss Shafiq, it is quite rare for anyone in the wizarding world to treat us goblins as anything more than servants. Your generosity to your account manager alone is astounding. But your donation to the goblin nation and myself makes you truly remarkable. I hereby make you a friend of the goblin nation—a title owned by a scarce amount of wizards. There has not been anyone living with the title in several years. From now until your death, hopefully, years in the future, anything you need from goblins and Gringotts is yours upon request. We will double the interest rate paid into both of the vaults in your name. I am also going to personally donate my vaults to St. Mungo's, where the orphan ward is currently held in your name as well to match what you have pledged. I will also not rest until goblins handle the issues regarding your parents' death. I realize that you have a lot to do today if you would like to return to Gringotts at a later date we can show you to your vaults as they don't contain only money, but your parents' vault also has other artifacts. Here are the keys to both of your vaults; you will need them to access your vaults at a later date." With a short bow, her account manager handed her a small gold card that connected to her trust vault only for now. Then the three goblins came to her and shook her hand with a slight bow each and left the room.

  
"Hermione, I am very proud of you today, dear, we have always taught you to be generous and treat those around you with courtesy. But you have done better today with these goblins than we could have imagined. You have made friends with the king of an entire nation of Goblins!" her father's face was radiant with pride in his daughter as he spoke. Professor McGonagall spoke up, "Miss Shafiq, if I may call you that from now on, I have brought many students here to Gringotts in my 40 plus years of teaching at Hogwarts. Some were muggle born with no wizarding ancestry, rarely have I had a case like you of a wizard or witch discovering their ancestry. Sometimes it was a wizarding orphan who knew they were magical but had no parents to lead them through Gringotts. None of them have managed to make the kind of friends with the goblins as you did today, as Ragnok indicated you are the only friend of the goblin nation currently living. The fact that you did this with no direction from myself or your parents but merely because you thought it was the right thing to do, is a magnificent indication of the type of witch you will be in the future. I hope that you will be at my house at Hogwarts, but if not, any house is gaining a tremendous witch even before you have learned a single spell."

  
Hermione was blushing, and her eyes were a little teary at the compliments from both her father, who she knew spoke for both her parents and Professor McGonagall. Even though she had only known the professor for a short time, she felt in her heart, and this would be someone she wanted to emulate in the wizarding world and look for future guidance. With a small wave, the professor leads them back out of Gringotts the way they had entered. It appeared her status as a friend of the goblin nation proceeded her, instead of looks of possible disdain or indifference she had received when she first entered the bank. Each goblin she passed lowered their head in a short bow of acknowledgment a few even appeared to smile at her. The next couple of hours went by in a blur for Hermione. First, they went and obtained her wizarding robes for school and other occasions, next to her cauldron, then the bookstore where she could have spent hours. However, the professor convinced her, for now, to only buy her textbooks by telling her that she could use a mail catalog to order anything else she fancied and have it delivered to Hogwarts. Next, they went to the menagerie where she purchased an owl for herself so she could have letters delivered to her parents at any time and not have to borrow one from a friend or the school. She was a beautiful dark brown eagle owl that she named Artemis. After a few more stops, they went to the wand store, having skipped the broom store for now. She wasn't sure how much she was going to enjoy flying on a broom quite yet. Professor McGonagall lead her and her parents to a store called Olivander's, which advertised making wands since the 300's BC. The professor stopped her parents at the door, indicating that this was a special moment for a witch and best done alone. Hermione was nervous entering the store; she had heard the professor explain that she wouldn't pick a wand. The wand would choose her. What if no wand chose her?  
"Hello," she said as she entered the dusty store, not seeing anyone at first until an elderly gentleman came around the corner from one of the rows. "Hello, Miss Shafiq, I have been waiting for you. The news of your reappearance in the wizarding world has been traveling down Diagon Alley like wildfire. It is not often a lost house is revived. I was heartbroken to hear of the passing of your parents, and what a tragedy. I sold wands to both of your parents. Your mother, I heard, was truly a brilliant student at Hogwarts. I'm sure you will be the same. Now, let's find you a wand." What followed was a nerve-wracking experience of almost an hour as each wand she tried seemed to work, but it wasn't providing the reaction the wandmaker was looking. Finally, he pulled a wand he said was vine and dragon heartstring. As soon as he put it in her right hand, she sensed a reaction up and down her body. The wandmaker seemed to perceive it as well and told her to flick her wand hand. She did so, and a flock of birds flew around the store and then out the door. "Yes, finally, I had wondered if this might be the match. But I wanted to try a couple of other combinations first. This wand has the same combination as your beautiful mother, except yours is slightly longer. While your mother was adept at potions, this might indicate you will be better at Runes and Arithmancy." Hermione was thrilled to hear this as these were the subjects in her Hogwarts history book that had most fascinated her, even though she was disappointed they were not first-year classes.

  
She exited the store with her wand in a beautiful box and showed it off immediately to her parents and the professor. They had finished a long day of banking and shopping and had quite a few shocks and had missed lunch. Professor McGonagall lead them back to the Leaky Cauldron, where they had a late lunch or early dinner as she explained the procedures for a week from that day. She didn't quite understand how she would get on the train when she received a ticket. But Professor McGonagall said to watch out for other people around her age with trunks and animals, and she was sure to find other Hogwarts students. Instead of making them haul everything home with them in a taxi, the professor had sent everything they had purchased back to their home by magic. Hermione and her parents went out to the front of the pub and hailed a taxi, taking them back home after a long and strange day. Hermione Shafiq…knew that everything was changing around her quickly, but she was excited to see what would happen in a week.


	4. Scarlett Steam Engine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> trip to Hogwarts begins, Hermione meets some witches and makes friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still don't own HP
> 
> Thanks to those who have left kudos

Scarlett Steam Engine

Hermione grew more nervous each day as September 1 drew nearer. She realized in the week between her visit to Diagon Alley and the day she would head to Hogwarts that her schooling would be different for another reason besides it being magical. Hermione would have never attended school with boys before. All of her schoolings occurred in a girls-only environment. Her neighborhood did not offer much experience for her of boys her age either. The boys that lived near were older than her by at least four years or younger by a similar range. It was a genuinely statistical oddity that was rearing its head now at the worst time. Her school had participated in mixed-gender dances with a neighboring boys-only school. However, Hermione never attended any of the dances as she was not a participant in the social atmosphere at her school. Once she was promoted in grades, she had at least heard some of her older classmates gossip about the boys they were interested in and how they behaved around the girls. On the whole, the girls' experiences seemed to indicate that even at 14, boys were pretty dumb to be around. Now she would be going back being around boys closer to the age of 11, which didn't bode well for intellectual stimulation. 

She had seen boys on the television, of course, that were her age and as she passed the magazines in her local bookstores where they stored the magazines geared towards teen girls. Hermione heard girls discussing which boys they found attractive as they flipped through the magazines. She guessed that some of them were pleasant to look at aesthetically. But so far, there were no internal reactions by her body that Hermione heard her older classmates exclaim. She had not gone through puberty yet, and she wasn't looking forward to it possibly occurring while she was away at a boarding school, but knew it was a distinct possibility. Hermione's mother had explained what would be happening to her body soon, and she was around the older girls as they went through the experience. She had an assumption that she didn't find boys attractive yet because her hormones had, however, to kick in. On the whole, she quite thought girls' bodies were more pleasant to look at, but right now, she didn't know that meant very much on the whole. 

The day to leave for her magical adventure arrived, and she was up exceptionally early even though she train didn't leave until 9 a.m. she was up by 5:30 a.m. Hermione and her parents arrived at Kings Cross station at 8:30 a.m. and made their way to the area between trains 9 and 10. She quickly spotted a girl around her age with parents who dressed like her parents but were extremely uncomfortable in the clothes. She timidly walked over to the girl and tapped her gently on the shoulder. "Excuse me," she whispered, "are you here to board the train for Hogwarts?" The blonde girl turned to Hermione with a timid smile on her face. "Yes… it's my first year. We are just waiting for a chance to go through the barrier. Are you a first-year as well?"   
Hermione signed in relief, "Yes, I am, Professor McGonagall visited me weeks ago and explained to me that I'm a witch. I was born to wizarding parents but only discovered my heritage last week. She explained how I'm to get on the train, but I'm still unsure. Can I watch you?" The young girl smiled at Hermione. "Of course! Do you have your trunk with you? You can walk through the barrier with me, and then your parents can follow mine. My name is Amanda Brocklehurst." Hermione turned to her parents, who walked up behind her as her conversation with Amanda had continued for longer than it would had it been a mistake. Hermione grabbed the handle of her trunk and spoke to her parents. "This is Amanda. She is a witch as well. She said that I could follow her through the barrier, and then you can follow her parents." 

Hermione's parents looked behind Amanda at her parents and walked closer so they could greet them. "Hello, we are Daniel and Emily Granger, we are completely new to this world of witches and wizards. We didn't know our daughter was a witch until a couple of weeks ago." Hermione watched as a dawning realization appeared on the face of Amanda and her parents that these Caucasian adults were her parents. She had become used to this process over the years. She would call for her parents, and people would watch and wait for a couple of black adults to walk over. There was always an odd look on their faces as they processed the facts and then an uncomfortable smile. The Brocklehurst family, however, after a brief period of unease, recovered quickly and had genuine smiles on their faces. "Hello, great to meet you. We are George and Denise Brocklehurst. You have a beautiful young lady on your hands. I can't imagine the shock finding out that magic exists and that your daughter is a witch." Her mother, Emily, returned the broad smile quickly. "We have always thought our daughter was special from the day we brought her home from Africa. There's always been a certain something to her and her spirit that we couldn't quite identify. I guess we know what it was now. There have been a couple of events throughout the year that we couldn't explain. The professor explained that these were cases of accidental magic. We've never been apart from our daughter really since she was born, we're not looking forward to the adjustment." Hermione's dad put his arm around his wife's shoulder and pulled her close, and gave a squeeze around her shoulders. Hermione had not considered what her mother had just said. She knew that she was going to miss her parents. But it never crossed her mind to talk to mom or dad how they were going to miss her. Of course, now was not the time for such a discussion. Until a couple of weeks ago, her parents had probably expected her to live with them until she went off to uni. There were even a couple of decent schools within driving distance. The possibility Hermione would have lived at home and commuted had certainly already crossed her mind. 

"Come on, Hermione, we need to get through the barrier so we can find a compartment on the train. Follow me and do as I do. It helps to go at the barrier at a pace, don't look anxious or look around as you approach the barrier. That way, you draw less attention to yourself. The barrier is wide enough that we can both go through side by side." Hermione grabbed the handles of the cart that carried her trunk and owl and lined up next to Amanda, they walked towards the barrier at nine ¾ at a quick pace, and even though Hermione couldn't help herself, she closed her eyes as they reached the wall. She opened them a second later when she heard the whistle of a train in front of her, and the sounds of other owls and people talking reach her ears. Hermione expected something fancier in mind, this was taking them to a magical school, but in front of her sat a scarlet steam engine that appeared to be from the early 1900s. Even though it seemed to be quite old, there was a beauty and charm to something that old attached to magic. Seconds later, both sets of parents came striding through the barrier, and Hermione noticed that her parents had also closed their eyes as they crossed the wall and gave a slight chuckle in her mind. 

"That is certainly a magnificent looking train. I do hope it's going to be comfortable for the long trip, though. If the interior is as old as the exterior, it might still have wooden benches." Daniel Granger had a fascination with trains and collected a few in his office and at his home. This train hobby made him a famous dentist with young children as they waited in his waiting room and watched the train travel along an elevated track on his wall. A few years prior, Dan and his wife had hit on the idea to place toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss in the cars of the trains that kids and parents could pick up off the train to take home free of charge. This way, it became a game for the kids, and they were more likely to take them home and use them. After a few of the wealthier clients found out about why they did this, they received monthly donations of items they could load into the train for the kids. The administrative staff had told them that the parents of some of their more indigent clients would also occasionally make sure that no one was looking or so they thought and take one for themselves as well. Even though the Grangers had both grown up in homes with money, they had friends in public schools that did not. They understood that sometimes people are hesitant to accept help if they considered it charity. So they had started to put adult items on the train as well when they knew their more impoverished clients might be coming in that day. 

After Amanda's parents had assured the Granger's that while it looked old on the outside, it had been updated frequently over the years and had even undergone a refitting recently with more comfortable seating. Fewer kids were attending Hogwarts than in years past for reasons they didn't seem to want to go into at the moment. So the seats had been enlarged and cushioned in the past five years. Dan had helped Hermione load her trunk into an empty compartment she and Amanda had found since they were relatively early for the train to leave. The girls came back out to say their goodbyes. "Hermione, make sure you write to us soon, so we know how things are going. We understand that you are going to be separated into different houses from what you told us about the school. We'd love to hear about what you are and your new roommates and classes. We're saying goodbye to you sooner than we had planned. But we are very happy for you discovering this part of yourself." Hermione's mother was crying before she even ended her little talk. She would miss the discussions with her mother over tea early in the morning. They were both early risers compared to her father. They didn't know what the food situation was for breakfast at her new school, so her mother had packed some of her favorite British breakfast tea in her trunk. Hermione and Amanda both gave their parents long hugs and then climbed onto the train, the platform was starting to fill up, and they wanted to get to their compartment. They entered the train compartment and made themselves comfortable near the window on opposite sides. They had been quietly chatting and observing the families on the platforms.

Hermione noticed a rather large family of redheads on the platform. They were all boys except for a little girl. The little girl was holding hands with a blonde girl who appeared to be her age. The girls were upset. It was undoubtedly because Hermione had counted the luggage, and there wasn't enough for the two younger girls. They must have come to say goodbye to the redhead girls' older siblings. At one point, the young blonde girl looked towards their window, and Hermione saw some of the brightest blue eyes she had ever seen. The moment lasted but a second, but she knew she had never seen eyes like that. The blonde didn't even appear to have seen Hermione. She figured the windows appeared darker from the outside. 

It was at that moment, there was a knock on the door of their compartment, and Amanda and Hermione turned to see a pair of girls that were twins standing there. "Hello, I'm Padma, and this is my twin, Parvati. We're going into our first years at Hogwarts. Is this compartment full?" Hermione and Amanda looked for a brief moment before both turning to the girls with smiles on their faces. "Come on in, and we have plenty of room for you, ladies." Amanda had spoken for the pair as Hermione had turned briefly to see if she could spot the blonde again, but the family had disappeared from the platform. "Are you girls both in your first year as well?" the one that had identified as Parvati asked them once they had gotten their trunks settled. "Yes, I was raised in the muggle world and just found out that I'm a witch from a wizarding family. I was adopted at a young age…" Hermione trailed off. She didn't want to get into the details of her adoption to these new girls yet. Hermione had never shared the points with any of the girls at her previous school. The girls had assumed because of her race and her parents being wealthy that her family was poor and given her up as an unwanted pregnancy. Hermione letting the girls in her school believe that was easier than explaining the circumstances around her parents' murder and adoption out of an orphanage. She sometimes wondered if this meant she was ashamed of her parent's deaths. After Hermione had learned the truth behind their deaths, she had reflected on this even more. In the end, she had decided that not telling the girls of her school the fact didn't mean she was ashamed of her birth parents. None of the girls in her school made an effort to get to know her enough to reveal that type of truth. 

The train soon left the station, and the four girls quickly fell into an easy conversation as they began the process of learning about each other. Hermione had mentioned to Amanda already that she was adopted and had magical parents. But she had not told her the last name of her birth parents. Hermione decided even though the goblins had placed Shafiq on her official documents for the bank. She still had recorded under Granger as well. As far as Hogwarts was concerned, so far as she knew, they had her registered yet under Granger. She decided that for the time being, unless she needed to do so, she would keep her valid surname to herself. For Hermione, it was because she didn't yet know what it meant to be a Shafiq or from a wizarding family. She had not yet had the opportunity to investigate her family vaults or her trust vault. She did not know what information was waiting there for her in terms of family history and traditions. Besides that, the goblins had promised to investigate the issues regarding her parents' death and their paperwork going missing. Until she knew what had happened there, which she didn't have any reason to think was anything dangerous, but there was a slim possibility. It would be best to keep her true identity a secret. 

She soon learned that the Patil twins were born to a mother who had come to England from India for study at Hogwarts, and their father's family had come to England a couple of generations prior. They met on the train to Hogwarts their first day and became fast friends as the only two Indian students on the train. A couple of years of friends blossomed into a dating relationship, and they were married after graduation. Their father was a magical attorney in a variety of matters, including estates. Hermione put this information into the back of her mind as it might be useful to be able to talk to an attorney on her inheritance matters at a later date. Their mother helped her father's law firm with their money matters as she was great with numbers and had considered pursuing a master's in arithmancy. But, their mother had preferred only to work part-time when needed and be home raising their twin daughters. They had mutually decided that they did not want them to be raised by a nanny even though they could have easily afforded to do so. The surprising idea for Hermione was to learn that the Patil's were practicing Muslims even though they practiced magic. Padma explained to Hermione and Amanda that Islam, in fact, the idea of magical beings made from smoke named jinn in their faith, so the idea of magic existing was not as far fetched as it may have seen to practicers of their faith. Neither of the girls covered their hair with a hijab, but this time it was Parvati who explained that a Muslim girl did not have to choose to protect themselves except for prayers until they entered their womanhood with their first period. Neither girl, it seemed, had made up their mind on if they would wear it when the time came. Both Hermione and Amanda were unaware that it was a choice for girls. They had always heard that it was mandatory in the British news. The Patil twins regretted this slander had come against their faith and explained many of the positive effects on women in Islam. Hermione did not know about the religion beyond the small amount in history textbooks and what was in the news. She resolved to learn more about something that mattered to these two new friends of hers. 

Amanda was from the area around Chelsea, but otherwise, her life was quite similar to the upbringing that Hermione had growing up. Even though magical parents raised her, they had made her attend a girls' primary school with muggles until her Hogwarts letter arrived. Amanda's father was a businessman dealing in both muggle and magical antiques, and her mother was a pioneer when it came to magical beauty products. Padma and Parvati had been thrilled to learn that their trunks contained products by Amanda's mother. Amanda promised to let her mother know, and she was sure her mother would send the girls, Hermione included, products and samples that they could use. Hermione had never been much of a makeup user, but she got caught up in the excitement of the other girls on the train. The girls had each obtained candy from the trolly witch when she came by, and Hermione gained her first exposure to wizarding sweets. Every girl Hermione knew loved chocolate, and her mother had told her when her periods came. She would love it even more. The girls were sitting around talking about Hogwarts and what houses they might want to be in when they were interrupted by a knock on the door, and a small round-faced boy opened the door. Hermione would reflect on her life later that this ended up being a significant moment in her life…  
To Be Continued


	5. Scarlett Steam Engine part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> part 2 of the trip to Hogwarts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still don't own HP. I don't have the exact same conversations between Ron,Harry and Hermione et al. As I don't have my copy of the books with me, plus this is a non canon universe. Slight Ron/Harry bashing.
> 
> I apologize if anyone has been waiting for my next chapter.

Scarlett Steam Engine Part 2  
At the end of last chapter…  
The girls were sitting around talking about Hogwarts and what houses they might want to be in when they were interrupted by a knock on the door, and a small round-faced boy opened the door. Hermione would reflect on her life later that this ended up being a significant moment in her life…  
Part 2  
"My name is Neville Longbottom. I've lost my toad. Have you seen him?" Hermione glanced at the other girls in her cabin. They had their door shut since the train had started moving. There was no way any of them could have seen the toad. Of course, to be fair to the boy, he had no way of knowing that. "I'm sorry, no, we haven't seen your toad. We closed our compartment door as soon as the train left the station. How long has he been missing?" Hermione asked the young boy, kindly. Hermione could see in his face that he was anxious about losing his pet toad. "He hasn't been missing very long. I don't think. I think he must have hopped out when I was buying some snacks from the trolly witch. His name is Trevor…I just bought him yesterday to take with me to Hogwarts. My gran is going to be furious with me if I've lost him already."   
The four girls looked at each other and had a silent conversation between themselves. They knew all four of them couldn't leave their baggage unattended. So, at least one, if not two, of the girls should probably stay with the compartment. "Hermione and I will go help you look for the toad. My sister and Amanda need to stay with our luggage." Padma stated to Neville as she and Hermione rose from their seats and moved towards the door. Once out in the hallway of the train, the three kids had a quick conversation about their strategy. Padma and Neville would go left and go back over the area that Neville had already searched. Hermione would go right and check the areas that had not yet been explored by the young boy. 

Hermione's search had been going for fifteen minutes, and so far, she had not had any luck. She had been observing the compartments as she passed them and only asked questions of those with open doors. She figured most of them, like her and her new friends, had their door shut except for the quick visit with a trolly witch. In one compartment, she saw the red-headed twins she had seen earlier with the blonde who captured her attention on the platform. They were sitting with a pair of athletic-looking black girls animatedly talking about something and laughing. Their door was open slightly, so Hermione knocked and stuck her head to ask about the toad. "Excuse me, I'm sorry to bother you. You appear to be having a rather fun conversation. I'm helping a young boy. He lost his toad. You haven't seen him by any chance, have you?" The black girl with long waist-length braids who was closest to her shook her head, and glanced at the rest who were already shaking their head no as well. "I'm sorry we haven't seen anything. I'm Angelina, this is Alicia, and these twins are Fred and George. Please don't ask me which is which. I've known them for years and still can't tell them apart." The twin boys had huge grins on their faces as they stood and bowed to Hermione. "A pleasure to meet you, miss," they both stated at the same time. "Who did your hair? I love your cornrows," The one w introduced as Alicia asked Hermione. "I did, I had to learn how to do my hair pretty early on in life…I was adopted by white parents when I was young…they couldn't figure out how to do my hair very well, and our area was very homogenous. None of the hairstylists could do much with my hair either… I'm Hermione, by the way." Hermione had blushed a little at the compliment from Alicia. She was not used to compliments on her hair from strangers. Her hair had mostly been a curiosity among the other girls at her school, where she was the only black student. Alicia herself had a beautiful afro that stuck out from her head at least a foot; it appeared. "Wow, you're a first-year. I've never seen you on the train or around Hogwarts. For an eleven-year-old to be able to do her cornrows or braids is phenomenal." This time it was Angelina complimenting her skills, and Hermione smiled back at her, grateful that she was not the only black student at this school. "Alicia and I help each other out since we're roommates in Gryffindor and Hogwarts are not near any place that does hair. We are both on the quidditch team, so we both wear braids or cornrows pretty frequently on the pitch. We also help other girls out with french braids stuff like those on other quidditch teams for some extra money. We can help you if your willing to help other girls and us out with your skills. It doesn't matter which house you in." Angelina was smiling at Hermione as she spoke, and Hermione felt a thrill go through her. Hermione had already made friends, she thought, with the three girls in her compartment in her year. Now she had met a couple of girls who were black like her. She had never had friends who were like her before, girls that she could talk about the frustrations with her hair, exchange styles, help with the long process of doing, and taking out braids. She knew her other new friends wouldn't understand really couldn't understand how big a deal this was to her. Finding out that she was a witch and attending a new school turned out to be one of the best things to happen to her ever. "I appreciate the offer, and I'd be happy to help either of you or any other girls who need their hair done. I enjoy doing hair. For me, it's a relaxing time when I can let my hands work, and my mind does other things. I would love to stay and talk more, but I have to keep looking for the toad." Hermione smiled as she turned and continued down the hallway, occasionally looking at the other compartments. She had not passed any others with an open door in a few minutes. She came to another open door and peeked in and saw two boys sitting by themselves overeating on what looked like every candy the trolly witch had carried. 

One of the boys had the same bright hair of the twins she had met a little bit earlier, and she knew he was a younger brother of the pair. The other boy was small for their age and had unruly black hair and broken glasses. The red-headed boy had a rat on his lap and his wand in his hand. "Are you doing magic?" Hermione asked, and both boys looked up at her in surprise. They had not heard her come to the door; it was obvious. They had both been too busy eating the candy they had in a pile between them. "Yea, my older brother, taught me this spell, I'm trying to turn my rat yellow." The boy then said something and pointed his wand at the rat, nothing happened, and Hermione could already tell his brothers had tricked the boy. What he had said was not a spell, but she wasn't going to tell him that. "Well, that wasn't excellent magic then," Hermione said to the boy with a small smirk. "Have you boys seen a toad? A boy named Neville has lost his" Hermione knew it was fruitless to ask these boys anything that required observation of what was going on around them, but she was doing her due diligence. The boys looked at her both cluelessly, and she sighed internally. She entered the cabin and sat across from the black-haired boy. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at his glasses and said, "Reparo." There was a flash, and the crack in his lenses and the broken nose piece instantly fixed. Both boys looked in shock at her while she smiled triumphantly and put her wand back in her robes. This was the last compartment on the train, so she knew she could stay here for a couple of minutes. She hoped that Padma and Neville had better luck than her. "I'm Hermione Granger. I'm going into my first year of Hogwarts." Hermione said in the way of introduction, "I’m Hermione Granger, I’m going into my first year of Hogwarts.” Hermione said in the way of introduction, even if she had decided to tell others her true identity, these two for right now would not be on the list. She could tell that neither was high on the intelligence scale. “I’m Ron Weasley, and this is Harry Potter.” The redhead boy said with a mouth full of a chocolate frog. “Pleasure,” she replied with a slight grimace on her face as the boy was disgusting with his eating habits. The name of the other boy Harry had struck her immediately as she had read about Harry in one of the books on wizarding history she had purchased before going to school. He was lauded as having defeated a dark wizard that the book refused to name when he was merely a year old. Looking at the boy now, Hermione had no idea how this was possible. She caught a glance at a scar on his forehead through his fringe. To her, it was plain that Harry was trying to hide it. Hermione glanced at her watch, noticing they were arriving at the school in about half an hour. She needed to return to her compartment and get prepared. While others had not put on their robes like these two boys, Hermione had been wearing her robes from the moment she stepped on the train. She stood and excused herself before exiting and making her way back to the compartment with the girls. She had passed the compartment with the Weasley twins and the two girls and waved at Angelina as she passed by with a smile. Angelina and Alicia had both smiled and waved back. The boys had been distracted with something they appeared to be working. She arrived with about fifteen minutes before they were scheduled to arrive. Amanda informed her that the head girl had stopped in and let them know to leave their trunks on the train. They would be transferred to the castle for them as well as their animals. Besides Hermione’s owl, Padma and Parvati shared an owl as well. Amanda had an animal that resembled an orange cat that was called a kneazle. Hermione had seen the animal in the store and had almost purchased him, but her analytical mind convinced her that an owl was more practical. 

The animal appeared to like Hermione and curled up on her lap for a bit on the train ride, to the obvious consternation of her owl. As the train pulled into the station, Hermione looked out the window to see what could be seen from the station. However, all that could be seen in the dark was a bit of a village lit up in the storefronts that were still open. Hermione and the other girls exited the train and huddled together until they heard a deep, loud voice calling for all first-years to gather around him. The girls followed the voice and stared in amazement at the largest person they had ever seen. Hermione seriously doubted that this being in person was completely human, but she didn’t know what she would call it. She had read about giants in one of her books on wizarding history, but they were supposed to be over twenty feet tall. This person appeared to be about fifteen to sixteen feet tall and very round, with wiry hair and a long unkempt beard. Hermione heard Harry refer to him as Hagrid as he joined the group of first years. Hagrid soon introduced himself as the keeper of keys and grounds at the school, then asking if anyone had lost a toad, much to the relief of Neville. Hermione noticed the boy did not have robes on and wandered about that, but put it out of her mind for the moment. Hagrid informed the students that they would be taking small boats across the lake to the school. 

Hermione quickly joined her new friends in a boat for the trip across the lake. The girls were all seated, so they were facing the same direction to see the castle at the same time. They had been traveling slowly for ten minutes when they went around a bend in the lake there the castle was in front of them. She had seen castles in some of their vacations around England, Scotland, and Ireland and Europe with her parents, but this was bigger than anything she ever seen. Soon they passed underneath an arch that leads them to an underground dock beneath the castle where all the students disembarked. They followed Hagrid up the steps quietly other than a couple muted whispers followed by pointing at something on the grounds as they passed by. Eventually, they came to the doors of the castle, and Hagrid raised his giant hands and knocked on the doors. 

The doors opened, and they were greeted by Professor McGonagall, who Hermione recognized immediately, giving her a shy smile of greeting. Hermione noticed a commotion near where Harry stood and saw a boy with sharp features, and almost white hair appeared to be arguing. The argument ended quickly once Professor McGonagall stared them down. She was about to speak when she was interrupted by a boy rushing forward, trying to catch a toad. Neville had lost control of Trevor again. The toad hopped into Professor McGonagall’s hands, and she returned him to Neville with a disapproving frown. “If there are no more interruptions, you will follow me through the main hall to a room off the dining hall. You will wait there while I speak to the headmaster and let him know you have arrived. Then you will come into the main hall, I will call you up individually, and you will be sorted into your houses. The houses will be your family while you are at Hogwarts. You will receive points for your house due to good behavior and lose points for bad behaviors” at this, Hermione noticed a glance at Harry, Ron, and the blonde-haired boy she saw flanked by a couple of dumb-looking heavyset boys. “Please follow me, no talking.” 

The kids followed the professor through the doors and entered a large open hall; they passed by two large doors where they could hear the sounds of the older students and knew that was their destination. Professor McGonagall lead them around a corner and down a narrow hallway to an anteroom off the main hall. She told them to wait there, and once she knocked, they were to enter quietly and orderly. She explained that they would be called alphabetically. She glanced at Hermione with a slightly raised eyebrow and said, “Miss…do, you have a question?” Hermione realized she was subtly asking which the last name she would want to use for the sorting ceremony. Hermione’s new friends looked at her with a questioning look on their faces. They knew she had already met the professor. But they did not know the full story involving her identity yet. “Granger, ma’am. My name is Hermione Granger.” The professor gave a subtle nod to Hermione that she understood and turned on her heels. Once she left, a murmur rose as the kids talked to those near them or knew about what houses they would be sorted. Hermione thought for herself that either Gryffindor or Ravenclaw would be ok. Angelina and Alicia were in Gryffindor and had been very friendly. Meanwhile, Amanda and Padma both seemed confident they wanted to be in Ravenclaw, while Parvati was in between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw like herself. The kids heard a knock on the door, and suddenly the room was still as they formed a line and begun the entrance into the great hall.   
Up Next! The sorting ceremony, first feast, and meeting her dorm mates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all who have read or left kudos. Let me know if there is anything you want to see.


	6. The Sorting Ceremony

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't follow the cannon sorting ceremony, mostly because I wanted to be my idea of what it would have been like from Hermione POV. 
> 
> Slight Ron/Harry bashing, possible Dumbledore mystery? I haven't decided yet.
> 
> I almost switched Ron to Hufflepuff but I didn't think he'd fit. 
> 
> Still don't own HP, or I'd be rich and Dobby wouldn't have died.

The Sorting Ceremony

The door from the side room opened, and the nervous children made their way into the Great Hall. Hermione was astounded by the space that she had stepped in. The room had four long tables, which she assumed were for the four houses based on the different colors patches on robes at the tables. There was a long table at the front of the room in front of large windows. A group of adults was seated. There was one empty chair, and Hermione surmised that it was the chair for Professor McGonagall. There was a man with a long beard and hair seated in a high chair in the center who must be the headmaster, Dumbledore. She heard someone gasp as they were looking up, and she too looked up at the ceiling. The ceiling was moving! The ceiling had what she had thought was a painting of the sky as she first entered and saw out of her peripheral vision. But now she saw that it must have been charmed to resemble the skies outdoors. She grew excited at the idea that one day she might learn how to do such magic! The children were lead to the front a stool sat in the center of the open area in front of the long table with a ragged looking hat on it. She could tell others were curious about how they were to be sorted, even Ron, who had older siblings here, but Hermione had read about the sorting hat in Hogwarts: a History. She, however, was not prepared for the cap to open its brim and begin to sing. That part left for a surprise by the author.

Oh, you may not think I'm pretty, But don't judge on what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find A smarter hat than me.  
You can keep your bowlers black, Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat, And I can cap them all.  
There's nothing hidden in your head The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on, and I will tell you Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor, Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff, Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, If you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning, Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin, You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folk use any means To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid! And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none), For I'm a Thinking Cap!

Hermione heard Ron exclaim in relief, his older brothers were pranksters and told Ron the sorting ceremony was painful. The first student to be sorted was a young girl named Hannah Abbott, who quickly sorted into Hufflepuff. Hermione thought she was thankful she was going by her muggle name of Granger and not Shafiq. She wasn't nervous per se about what house she sorted. Hermione had a hunch; it would be Ravenclaw. But she still preferred to be sorted quickly if not so she could get away from the comments of Ron anytime someone sorted into Slytherin. He had inherited some old grievances; it appeared and already hated anyone in Slytherin and was quickly spreading this prejudice to Harry. She had gathered that Harry, like her, was raised in a muggle environment, but she observed he didn't seem to have been as well cared for physically. She could tell that his pants under his robes were much too big for him and his trainers were in terrible condition. Harry was also the smallest kid by far in their class, while Hermione knew biologically that boys were often smaller than girls until puberty. Harry seemed to be excessively short for an 11-year-old boy. Hermione guessed that she was at least a couple meters and fifteen stone heavier than Harry, and she was in the middle of the class in size. Suddenly she noticed the room was quiet, and the other first years were looking at her in bewilderment. "Miss Granger, you appear to have gone somewhere in your mind. It is your turn to be sorted." 

Hermione blushed internally as she made her way through the other students to the front of the room. She noticed that the headmaster had appeared to sit up and pay extra attention as she made her way to the stool. She sat down on the stool and waited as Professor McGonagall placed on her head. "Interesting, the professor introduced as Granger to the crowd, but I see in your head the memories of your birth parents. I sorted them too, you know. They both had brilliant minds, and I can see that yours could surpass them both. While I don't understand why you want to hide your true identity right now, your parents' death was a tragedy. I'm not going to reveal that your true self to anyone, even that old fart in the high chair. Anyway, with a mind like yours, there is truly only one place to put you, and I think one day you'll be known as the brightest witch of our age. RAVENCLAW!!

The Ravenclaw table had exploded in cheers, and she noticed the smallest of the professors begin to clap quite vociferously. The headmaster also looked nonplussed that the sorting hat sorted Hermione into Ravenclaw. She would think about the matter later, but for now, she made her way to the Ravenclaw table. Mandy had been sorted into Ravenclaw and greeted her enthusiastically as she sat down next to her. She glanced down at her robes and noticed a blue crest had appeared on the left breast of her robes, and her tie was now magically blue and silver. Hermione had wandered about how the uniforms would identify them in their houses. All her letter had specified was black robes and ties. Hermione now knew that the robes and ties must also be magical. She settled in now, much relieved that her sorting was over. She also couldn't help to notice the sad looks on the faces of Alicia and Angelina at the Gryffindor table. The next girl to be sorted into Ravenclaw was a small girl of Chinese descent named Sue Li. Hermione and Mandy both greeted her enthusiastically, and Sue was quite pleasant to talk to as well. Both Hermione and Mandy were thrilled when the sorting hat sorted Padma into Ravenclaw. Shockingly to some in the room, her twin Parvati sorted into Gryffindor. She heard one of the older Ravenclaw students remark that it wasn't that unusual for twins to place into different houses. 

After Padma, the next student to be called was Harry, and a hush went over the crowd for a moment when Professor McGonagall announced him and then a small murmur began to rise. Hermione could hear whispers of is that him? He's shorter than I expected, that's the boy who lived, and other exclamations as Harry made his way through the crowd of first years remaining to the stool. Hermione noticed that not only was Headmaster Dumbledore paying closer attention but a couple of professors sitting to the far left, not yet introduced by Dumbledore, were also paying particular attention. The one professor was a small, timid looking man with a turban wrapped around his head, while the other had a sallow looking face and a curtain of black hair. The hat and Harry appeared to be having some conversation as she could see Harry's mouth move a couple of times but couldn't read his lips. Finally, after a seemingly interminable wait in which the murmurs had begun to get louder as each house wanted to claim the famous Harry Potter in their ranks. "Well..better, be Gryffindor!" was the hat's exclamation that settled the debate between the cap and Harry. The Gryffindor table exploded into cheers while the remaining tables sulked. In her opinion, while Harry was undoubtedly famous in the wizarding world, in her brief interactions with him and Ron, she couldn't say she was disappointed that he was not in Ravenclaw. She would have been stunned if he had been, wit beyond measure, as the slogan went, did not appear to be a trait of either of the two boys. The last person to be sorted was Ron, and his face covered in beads of sweat. She could see three other redheads at the Gryffindor table, including the two she had met with Alicia and Angela. These were his older brothers, and Ron assuredly wanted to be with his brothers and Harry. Ron need not have worried as the hat had merely been on his head a couple of seconds when it announced that Ron was the final Gryffindor and the last first year. At the end of the sorting, the Ravenclaw table had a handful of new boys and girls. Besides Hermione, Mandy, and Padma, the Ravenclaw first-year girls included Sue and a kind-faced girl named Lisa Turpin. She had not paid as much attention to the names of the incoming boys. She would worry about learning their names later. 

Once Ron had settled down at the Gryffindor table across from Harry, and next to one of his twin brothers, Hermione couldn't tell from this distance which one. Not that she could yet tell them apart up close. The headmaster stood up and a quiet settled about the Great Hall as the students looked up at the elderly man. Hermione noted that even though his body appeared frail, there was a definite projection of power inside him that was evident if you paid attention. "Greetings, both to our returning students and our first years. For our first-year students, I imagine this has been a stressful day for you, and that has made you quite hungry. Because of that, I will hold off on the introductions of professors and start of term notices. Let's Eat!"

At last word, the headmaster clapped his hands together, and the tables in front of the students filled with seemingly every type of food they could imagine. Hermione was, in fact, quite hungry from the day's travels and soon had turkey, stuffing, shepherd's pie, and roasted potatoes on her plate. All of the food was fantastic, and Hermione didn't know if magic played a part in the taste of the food or not. The first-year girls had all sat close to each other and soon were conversing easily. Though none of the other girls had the eidetic memory that she had, and which a couple expressed jealousy, the other girls in her year were also highly intelligent. Hermione knew that she would get along with these girls throughout the year, although she was realistic to know that five girls living nearby would have inevitable arguments and disagreements. The girls also expressed admiration for Hermione's skills doing her hair as Angelina and Alicia had done on the train. Padma had long waist length hair that was beautiful to look at, and she asked if Hermione might be able to help her braid it on occasion to keep it out of the way to which she readily agreed. After a while, the myriad of food made way for desserts. Hermione immediately reached for a couple of different kinds of tarts hoping they were as good as the main meal. She was not disappointed. She knew that she would have to have some regular exercise or gain a lot of weight eating this food every day. She could soon tell by looking up an down the table and around the room that everyone had reached their fill. 

The headmaster noticed the same thing and made another clap, and the food disappeared, but the drinks of water, pumpkin juice, milk, and various teas remained for them to sip. The headmaster then went along the table, introducing the professors and their subjects and what house they were affiliated with if necessary. She soon learned that the small man seated on cushions was her head of house Professor Flitwick and was the Charms professor. She had heard mention of Professor Flitwick among the older Ravenclaw students, and the students of his house well-liked him. The final professor to be introduced was Professor Quirrel, the smaller man in the turban who was returning to teaching at Hogwarts after a sabbatical for a year and was teaching the Defense against the Dark Arts post. Hermione heard some of the older students mention that this was another year in which they had a new professor for that post. One of the students joked that someone cursed the position as nobody could remember anyone teaching it longer than a year. The headmaster then made his start of term notices reminding older students with a look at Ron's twin brothers that the Forbidden Forest was just that, which Hermione seemed obvious only in the name. The students warned about using any number of forbidden objects from a list on the caretaker's door, which consisted of joke items from a joke shop in the nearby village. Finally, he made a statement that seemed to strike many of the older students as odd as he announced that a particular corridor on the 3rd floor was out of bounds for all students. Unless that is, they wanted to die a horrible death. Hermione made up her mind never to be anywhere near that corridor if she could help it. They headmaster dismissed them with the announcement that they should follow the prefect from their house to their dormitories. In the tumult, Hermione couldn't hear the Ravenclaw boy prefect announce his name, but the female prefect was named Penelope Clearwater. The Ravenclaw students grouped behind their prefects and followed them through the castle. The prefects along the way pointing out staircases that moved at certain times, trick steps, and the castle ghosts. The Ravenclaw ghost named the Grey Lady, and to Hermione, she looked morose. 

They worked their way through the castle, gradually working their way up as their dormitories were at the top of one of the castle towers. They finally came to the door at which the female prefect lifted the knocker and rapped against the door a couple of times. Hermione expected the door to swing open or perhaps to ask for a password. But instead, the knocker opened its mouth and asked a riddle. Hermione recognized this riddle immediately as it was a classic riddle and had been in the Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. After learning that the esteemed author was indeed a wizard, it made sense that his riddles were popular in the wizarding world. The students were lead into their common room, which was very homey and comfortable looking.

There was a fireplace under the portrait of the founder of their house Rowena Ravenclaw, surrounded by comfortable looking chairs and couches. There were chairs and sofas around the room, some of which had tables for studying in front of them. One wall was covered by a massive bookcase that Hermione immediately yearned to go over and investigate, but she knew that they needed to settle into their rooms. The best part of the room was undoubtedly the large picture window overlooking the grounds of Hogwarts, including the lake in front of the castle. Hermione could not believe that she would be privileged to have such a view for her next seven years. She followed the rest of the girls to a door, the prefect explaining that the first years were up the first set of steps and on the right. By the time of their seventh year, their rooms would be on the very top. Padma was the first of the girls to enter their room, and she made her way to the bed closest to the bathroom door where her trunk already sat. Hermione's trunk was sitting across the room from Padma and was closest to the fireplace in their room. Each girl took their turns going into the bathroom and getting into their pajamas, but the bathroom was big enough for all five to be in and have their privacy. There was some brief chatter of what classes they were looking forward to, but they would not get their schedule until the next day. Hermione admitted that of their first-year courses, she was most looking forward to taking Charms. Padma agreed with her, while Lisa and Mandy were excited for Defense, Sue, even though they learned she was a champion at dueling in her home country, was most looking forward to Herbology. Hermione guessed that she wanted a break from the types of things upon which Sue had built her dueling reputation. Each girl soon climbed into her bed and pulled up their covers, wishing each of her roommates good night. Hermione fell asleep after lying in bed for a period processing everything that had happened in the past weeks and the profound changes in her life. She knew that today would be the start of a new adventure, and with magic involved, anything would be possible.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A summary of the first week. Letters from Gringotts and a talk with Flitwick
> 
> I still don't own HP.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> positive Islam reference, slight Ron and Dumbledore bashing
> 
> I don't know the schedule for Ravenclaw first years so since this is non-AU I'm not going to be exact. I'm more of an overall sense than heavy detail like when they had class on what day.

First Week

Hermione woke up before dawn the next morning. It took her a minute to process where she had awoken. She had woken up in a castle, and today she was going to start learning about magic! Hermione was accustomed to waking up before dawn. Her morning routine going to her all-girls school had required her to take the tube across London. Typically Hermione awoke before anyone in her home, but as she adjusted to her surroundings, she realized she heard a low rhythmic chanting coming across the room. She looked up and saw that Padma had a scarf covering her head and was bowing with her hands on her knees. Padma continued to speak in another language and then bowed with her face to the ground. Hermione noticed she had an ornate rug on the floor beside her bed that she was placing her forehead on and continuing her speaking in the chanting melodious voice. Hermione quickly realized that Padma was doing her morning prayers. She felt like she was intruding on something private. But, Hermione also found the ritual and her voice beautiful and peaceful. Hermione had awoken at the tail end of her prayers. It appeared as she stood up soon from her prostration and removed the scarf from her head before noticing Hermione watching her.

“I’m sorry if I woke you, I overslept a bit this morning, and I had to rush to complete my morning prayer before I went downstairs because I don’t have time later. My mom taught me a silencing charm, so I wouldn’t wake anyone while doing my prayers. But in my haste this morning, I forgot how to cast it, and I was getting flustered. I almost forgot to cover my head before praying.” Hermione smiled reassuringly at Padma, looking worried at being discovered her first day praying. “Padma, don’t worry, I woke up on my own, I always do before dawn. My body clock is used to it from my schooling back home. I thought your prayer was lovely, and it was peaceful to listen. I’m disappointed I only caught the tail end. I quite enjoyed listening to and watching. You seemed at such peace with yourself, especially considering you said you flustered before you started. What language were you speaking?” Padma smiled softly as she folded her scarf and laid it over her bed. “Arabic, we learn how to pray in Arabic very early on in life. My mother began to teach me at four because I begged my mother to teach me. I watched her do her noon prayer since she stayed home with my sister and me. I noticed the same thing that you just said, my mother seemed calm and peaceful during her prayer, even with my sister trying to get her attention and climb over her or me. My sister started a couple of weeks after me, she loves the faith, but I have always been a little more into practicing it. When I became seven, I asked my mother to teach me how to read my Quran in Arabic. My mother cried when I did my first surah or chapter in Arabic from memorization, and not one I learned for my prayers. My goal is to learn the entire Quran in Arabic, but so far, I’ve only memorized a quarter of it, inshallah.”

Hermione knew students of other faiths in her school in London, and, after two thousand and one, she heard of the evils of the religion that her friend before her practice. But looking into her friend's eyes and listening to her voice describe it, she was moved by the passion and love she saw there. Hermione didn’t know if her rational mind could ever encompass a religion, but she wanted to learn more from her friend. “Padma, if you would be willing, I would like to learn more about your faith. There was something about watching and listening to you that moved me. I want to watch you pray some more and learn how you make that melodious language come from your soul. What does inshallah..mean? I hope I said that right,” Padma looked at Hermione with unshed tears in her eyes. Hermione felt that Padma had been worried about how her faith would be received. Especially among her roommates who she would be living with on a day to day basis for the next seven years. Even though Islam was a growing religion in Britain, with more people converting each year, it was still treated by many with distrust if not outright hatred. “Hermione, I would love that! Inshallah means loosely translated if Allah wills. We are to say it about anything that we hope to occur in the future. I’ll be happy to teach you whatever you want to know, and if you want to watch me pray or have me recite some Quran for you, I would be thrilled. But we need to get going, or we’re going to be late for breakfast. I want to get the hot water before these other ladies wake up.”

Padma smiled widely, and Hermione chuckled as they each gathered up their shower supplies and made their way into the bathroom. As she stepped into the bathroom, Hermione noticed that Padma said something low and in Arabic, but she didn’t ask anything right then. The girls went through their private morning ablutions, and both dressed in their clothes for the day before exiting the bathroom as it provided privacy for dressing. By the time the two girls left the loo, the other three girls were beginning to stir. Hermione and Padma gathered their backpacks but were hesitant to pack any textbooks as they didn’t receive their schedules until after breakfast. They both decided to hope that they would have enough time to return before their first class to retrieve their books. They hoped that going to breakfast earlier would facilitate this as well. 

Hermione and Padma made their way down to the Great Hall quicker than they expected as they had caught a couple of upper-year Ravenclaws exiting the standard room as they came down the stairs. As they neared the Great Hall, they could smell the breakfast foods already set out upon the tables. Hermione saw Angelina and Alicia coming towards the doors with a small girl in between them. Hermione waived to the girls, and they returned the wave with a smile as the girls met at the door. “Angelina, Alicia, it is good to see you girls again. I think I’m going to love being a Ravenclaw, but I’m disappointed not to be in your house as well. This is my roommate Padma Patil. Padma, this is Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, and I’m sorry I don’t remember your name, but I know you sorted last night.” Angelina smiled at Hermione and Padma while shaking Padma’s hand. “This is Katie Bell, she has an older brother who played Quidditch with us last year, and he asked us to show her how to navigate the castle and help her out the first couple weeks. Katie’s a huge Quidditch fan like her brother and is hoping to play in the next couple of years. She wants to be a chaser like us, and we’re full up at that position. The only position we have to fill this year will be the seeker. Charlie Weasley, George, Fred, and Ron’s brother graduated last year and was a phenomenal seeker. He probably could have gone pro, but he went to Romania to study dragons” Hermione as shocked at the mention of dragons. She knew they were real from her reading. She just had not known that the study of dragons was a career in wizarding society. “Hi, Katie, it is a pleasure to meet you officially. I’m sorry I couldn’t remember your name from last night. Usually, my memory is so much better, but there was so much going on last night parts of it were a blur.” Katie chuckled at that and nodded, “I know the feeling. Even though I grew up in the wizarding world, last night was a shock to my system. I didn’t eat much last night because I was so nervous, let’s go inside. I’m starved!” The five girls all laughed and made their way into the Great Hall. Since the Hufflepuff table was between their two house tables, they separated and made their way to their respective tables. Hermione and Padma were the first two to see of their first-year students, male or female. They knew that they had left before the rest of the girls, but they were unsure about the boys. The two girls noticed that Professor Flitwick was not sitting at the head table. Instead, at the end of their table on a high stool with a stack of papers next to him. As Hermione and Padma noticed, some of the older students finished their breakfast and went up to Professor Flitwick, where he shuffled through and handled them each their sheets. He asked questions before tapping the sheet with some of the students, and the girls figured out he was passing out their schedules. 

The table was laden with all the best of English breakfast foods and English and Irish breakfast teas and a variety of juice, including orange and pumpkin and milk. Neither Hermione nor Padma was a heavy breakfast eater as they both settled for a cup of English tea, toast with marmalade, and a couple of small slices bacon for Hermione. Padma passed on the bacon, explaining that Muslims did not eat pork instead of opting for some fruit. The girls made quick work of their first meal of the day and went up to the Professor to receive their schedules. “Good morning, young ladies, I trust you both slept well. Miss Patil and Miss Granger correct?” after a quick nod from each girl, he looked through his stack of papers and pulled out a sheet for each. “The schedule for first-year students is the same for everyone as you received your book list in your welcome letter. The only variety is when the classes are. I’m pleased to see you two are getting an early start to the day. You have enough time to go back and get your textbooks if needed and not have to rush. Your first class is out in the greenhouses with Professor Sprout for Herbology. I pity the rest of the first years.” Hermione and Padma thanked their head of the house and made their way back up to their dorm room, passing the rest of their first-year classmates on the way. They let the other three girls from their place know that Herbology was their first-class and offered to get their textbooks for them. The boys were lamenting that the girls were not allowed to enter their room.

The rest of the week went by quickly for Hermione and Padma as they were becoming fast friends very quickly. Hermione was teaching Padma about British muggle culture, and Padma had begun teaching Hermione about her faith. It was not until the third day that Hermione had awoken before Padma and observed her prayer from beginning to end. The entire ritual took ten minutes approximately, but Hermione did not seem that much time had passed. From the time that Padma covered her head, raising her hands to her ears for the prayer's start to her standing up and wiping her face with her hands, Hermione was transfixed the entire time. She also felt entirely at peace when it was over and smiled gratefully at Padma for letting her observe something so private and beautiful. Hermione was also grateful that she had observed the prayer as the first class of that day was their first flying class. In her muggle school, she hated her physical education class, which was the wizarding equivalent in many ways. Thankfully, Hermione was not afraid of heights, but she didn’t know how it might change riding on a broom. Hermione and Padma were still the first two of their dorm to awake each day, and the other three were always coming to breakfast after they had finished. While Amanda had been her first friend in the wizarding world, Padma was quickly becoming her closest. In some ways, Hermione imagined this was like having a sister. Padma and Parvati had a couple of classes together and made sure to see each other in the library during free time. 

Hermione and Padma had survived their flying class with ease, and Hermione had somewhat enjoyed the experience, although she had no expectation she would ever be an expert. They had heard through the Hogwarts rumor mill that Neville had broken his arm in his first class. Harry had also made an impression and was going to be playing Quidditch as the first year. Angelina and Alicia had been pretty excited with the news as their captain had told them that Professor McGonagall had seen Harry fly and recruited him personally. At the same time, it was not against school rules for first-years to play Quidditch. According to the girls, no first year had played in several years, and due to Harry’s birthday, he was the youngest Quidditch player in a century. Hermione was unduly impressed with this accomplishment because physical sports had never been important to her. But she was happy for Harry. She could tell he had not had a lot of happiness in his young life. 

On Friday of their first week, she received her first mail delivery. She wrote to her parents on Tuesday her sorting results and her train ride experience. She received a letter from her parents congratulating her on being a Ravenclaw and making some new friends. She had received an official-looking letter from Gringotts that she set aside to read later in private. She had told Padma the truth about her upbringing and being from a wizarding family on Wednesday night as they studied in the Ravenclaw standard room. Padma had accepted the news well, and their friendship strengthened. She noted to Hermione that Shafiq had an Arabic/African sound, and Hermione wondered what her parents had practiced faith-wise. Hermione had already earned the ire of Ron Weasley in Charms class by correcting his pronunciation of wingardium leviosa and also performing the charm correctly before anyone else in the classroom. Hermione suspected his anger was mostly due to her being a supposed muggleborn, but she also thought it was partly due to her being a girl. Deep down, she worried that it was also due to her race, although she had not encountered any racism in her interaction with the Weasley twins. They were friendly with Angelina and Alicia as well. But she knew that didn’t preclude the younger one from any latent racism. She decided to wait and see if anything further brought the matter to mind. 

Padma and Hermione had decided to take advantage of their Friday afternoon being free and the early September weather and went to study down by the lake. They tackled their potions homework. First, they had that class with the Gryffindor’s as well. Professor Snape’s dislike of Harry led to a lengthy homework assignment in the first class. The girls were unsure where the hatred had come. Harry had not done anything when the class had started. The very fact that Harry’s celebrity before term began was enough to draw his ire. Snape had asked Harry some very pointed questions at the start of the class, Hermione had known the answers, but he refused to look her way. After finishing her Potions work, she pulled out her Gringotts envelope, which was thicker than she had expected to receive. A letter from the Goblin King explained that he was still researching the circumstances around her parents' death and her subsequent adoption by muggles. She took a couple of minutes to reflect on the letter, the head of the goblins seemed to suspect something foul around her adoption still and she hoped her adopted parents were as good as she always believed.

The second letter was from her account manager, inviting her to look at her vault's contents at her earliest convenience. She received a fuller breakdown of the amount of gold in her vault. The goblin also informed her of books and works of art in her family vault. The Shafiq family also had multiple homes in England, Scotland, and Ireland and a pair of vacation properties in France and the Caribbean. Hermione asked Padma if Gringotts was open on the weekend, and she learned they did have hours on the weekend. Hermione decided to ask Professor Flitwick for permission to see her manager that weekend. She knew she would probably have to show him the letters but trusted that he would keep her heritage private along with Professor McGonagall. 

Padma and Hermione made their way to the office of their head of house quickly as they wanted to send an owl to Gringotts as soon as possible. At first, Padma had said she would wait outside Professor Flitwick’s office as Hermione discussed matters with their house head, but Hermione had no issues with Padma being in on the discussion. After Hermione revealed her heritage to Padma, the witch began to explain her rights as a member of an ancient house and her responsibilities. Thankfully, their account manager had confirmed that there were no astounding marriage contracts that she was obligated to fulfill. Padma told her that once her heritage became public knowledge, she would begin to receive proposals, and she might want to obtain a wizarding guardian to sort through such matters. As Islam prohibited marriage contracts without both parties' consent, so far, Padma and Parvati’s father had rejected all offers for his daughters. Hermione asked Padma if her father would consent to be her magical guardian on the way to Flitwick’s office, and Padma said she would write to her father once they finished. 

They knocked on their Professor’s office door and admitted quickly while he asked if either would like tea or biscuits. They both graciously accepted the offer for tea as Hermione knew she might have to do a bit of talking while there. “Hello Miss Granger and Miss Patil, how can I help you? I trust that your first week has gone well. I have received positive comments on both of you from your professors already.” Hermione hesitated on how best to approach and decided to pull the letters out of her bag. “Well, Professor, these letters would explain it better than I can. For the first, my last name is Shafiq. I believe you taught my parents.” The Professor’s eyes had widened with that statement and took the letters from Hermione and scanned through them quickly. He appeared shocked at the personal letter addressed to Hermione in friendly terms from the goblins king. Hermione wandered for the first time if her Professor had some goblin heritage in his family tree. Her Professor had the short stature and sharp facial features, but none of the angry personality that goblins famously held, in fact, in a relatively short time, Hermione had found him to be warm and courteous with his students. “Yes, Miss Shafiq, I do remember teaching your parents, both of them were brilliant. I see now where you have gained their intelligence. I was deeply saddened to hear of their deaths. I didn’t know they had a daughter at the time, and by the time word reached any of us, you had already disappeared into muggle society. I see King Ragnok thinks something was fishy about that, and I tend to agree upon reflection. How can I help?” Padma spoke up before Hermione had a chance to with a slight look at her friend. “Since she told me her true heritage on Wednesday night, I have been explaining to Hermione about some of what it means to be an heiress to such a family.

As you can see from her account manager, she has much to be examined in her family vault. With your permission, sir, we came here to obtain permission to go to Gringotts this weekend. Hermione asked me on the way if my father would be her magical guardian, and I’ll be writing here once we leave. I assume my father will have no issue with the matter, so this way, we can start that paperwork as well while there.” Hermione smiled at her friend to explain she had needed a moment to compose herself after Professor Flitwick mentioned her parents. “I did not have the time to examine my family vault when my heritage was made known to me on my first trip to Gringotts. That day was a whirlwind. My first time to Diagon Alley, buying my school supplies and finding out I’m an heiress to a multi-million dollar account at the wizarding bank. I want the opportunity to examine my possessions in the vault at my leisure and not feel rushed. I want Padma to come with me as she may tell me the value of some items in the wizarding society and trust her completely. With your permission, sir, I would like to send a letter to my account manager that I will be at Gringotts tomorrow after lunch.” Hermione was grateful that Professor Flitwick took no time to consider her question before nodding with a smile. “I see no reason why we cannot accommodate. I assume we can set up a floo to Diagon Alley for you both tomorrow. Who else knows about your heritage?” 

“As far as I know, only Professor McGonagall outside this room knows about me inside the castle. My adopted parents, of course, believe Professor Dumbledore may suspect something as he paid particular attention to my sorting. But I have not told him myself and would prefer not too at this time. Will that be an issue with the floo for tomorrow?” Professor Flitwick thought for a moment before replying, “No, I don’t think so. The headmaster gives each head of house considerable leeway in such matters, and Professor McGonagall is the Deputy and the head of student liaison. Since she is already aware of your situation, I don’t foresee any issues.”

Hermione was grateful that they would not have to inform the headmaster of the situation at this time. She didn’t know why, but her gut said she should leave him out of the situation for as long as possible. She had heard about Harry being placed with his muggle relatives, and Harry had said some things regarding it not be according to his parents' wishes. But he didn’t know the full story at this time. “Professor, before we leave, I wanted to discuss something with you as well. As you know, my family practices Islam, even though women are not required to attend the weekly Friday prayers. I want to go at least once a month to the closest mosque if you can arrange it. Since I don’t know exactly where we are in the Scottish Highlands, I couldn’t make preparations ahead of time.” Padma had not mentioned this before to Hermione, and she wondered if it was a case of Padma deciding to approach the situation while they were already there. She had told Hermione that the Muslim day of worship was on Friday’s and the idea of Padma leaving to go to pray on occasion was suddenly appealing to Hermione, and she wondered if she could go to observe sometime. “Yes, Padma, we have students that make arrangements to leave on Saturday or Sunday as needed, and we have had to make arrangements for Friday as well before. I believe Hermione’s parents were the last ones to need that particular arrangement. Would Hermione like to go as well?” 

Both girls looked at each other in astonishment. This, at least, answered the question of her parents' faith. It could also explain why she felt so peaceful hearing Padma do he prayers. She likely had grown up hearing her parents do the same thing as a child. Her mind formed a mental picture of her pregnant mother performing prayers with her growing inside her, and a tear formed in her eyes. “I think I might like that. I never knew my birth parents were Muslim, although Padma had pointed out that Shafiq had an Arab or African sound to it.” Professor Flitwick smiled at both girls. “I’m glad I was able to share that with you, Hermione. Your parents were amazing people, and I loved them both dearly. Let me know when you want to go-to girls, and I’ll make arrangements. There is a local imam who is friendly to wizards and has a floo in his building hidden from muggles, of course.” This time it was Hermione and Padma who had wide grins on their faces. That would be amazing. Hermione might never practice Islam herself, but anything that would make Padma happy was a good thing in her estimation. She knew Parvati would be glad to hear this news as well. They both nodded their thanks to the Professor and stood to exit the room. They both needed to go to the owlery quickly to send the letters to Gringotts and her parents, respectively. They practically ran to their dorm room to write their letters, both rushing through the notes, thankful they could use a word correcting quill in this case. They were also discussing the news regarding the mosque, and Hermione had quickly assented to going with Padma her first time. She wanted to learn as much as she could know about her religious heritage. Padma went over to her trunk and pulled a beautifully decorated Quran and handing it to Hermione. “This was my first English Quran, I brought it with me for sentimental reasons, but now I want you to have it. In Muslim tradition, the first Quran is supposed to be a gift. The Arabic is on the opposite page, and the transliteration for pronunciation is below the English.” Hermione was touched by such a beautiful gift and hugged her new friend ferociously for the first time. She delicately placed the gift in her trunk before the two girls turned and rushed to the owlery. Tomorrow was going to be a big day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trip to Diagon Alley and Gringotts is next. In case anyone wanders I have a general framework of where the story is leading. But I also kind of write where the story is taking me and what I discover while writing.


	8. Return to Gringotts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those few subscribers I have so far, I apologize for the delay in posting. I'm in grad school and I had 3 exams this week.

Return to Gringotts

Padma and Hermione had both awoken early on Saturday morning to go through the ritual of prayer. Hermione was not participating per se yet, but with the revelation that Islam was the parents' faith, she wanted to learn as much as possible. Hermione had begun to read the Quran. Padma had given her last night, and following her friend's advice, she had started with the shorter passages in the back. Just as learning magic had done, reading the Quran provided Hermione a glimpse into her parents, and she treasured it for that reason. They had sent off the needed owls late last night before returning to their rooms, and they were both hoping for quick responses so they could go to Gringotts that weekend, today, even if possible. As was their habit even before they began to rise early together for prayer, the girls were the first two girls in their dorm to awake and headed to breakfast. The girls enjoyed their breakfast when they saw two owls enter the Great Hall and make their way towards them. Each of the girls offering the owls a piece of fruit after receiving their letters. “My dad said he would be happy to be your magical guardian and vote your seat as you requested. He said that he knew your parents but only socially, but he respected them tremendously. He said he was going to Diagon Alley today for business anyway in the afternoon so that he will meet us there. Even if your account manager cannot meet us today, Daddy would like to meet you. He and your father attended different mosques on most Fridays for the jummah prayer but attended the same one for special events such as Eid. He sent me this photo of our parents together in their Eid clothes from the last time he saw them.” 

Padma handed Hermione a wizarding photograph showing both their sets of parents. Their fathers were each wearing simple one piece tunics with dress slacks. Each of their mothers was dresses much more fanciful and beautiful. Padma’s mother was wearing a red flowery sari and had henna designs on her hands and a solid red hijab with gold trim. Hermione was taken back by her mother. She had seen the picture of her mother in Africa without her hijab and no makeup. But this photo was something else. Her mother was stunning. She was wearing a purple abaya she thought Padma had told her they were called with a lunar theme. Her hijab was also a deep beautiful purple with blue and gold accents. She also had henna, which didn’t show as well on her darker skin but was nonetheless breathtaking. She looked at the photograph's date and realized her mother must have been newly pregnant with her when this picture was taken. Did her mother know? Was the awareness of her child growing inside of her a part of the radiance that permeated the photograph? A single tear ran down her cheek as she touched the photo of her parents and Padma’s smiling and waving at the photographer. She would treasure this photo for the rest of her days. This photo was the greatest gift she had ever received.  
Hermione then looked down and took a moment to read the message from her account manager Throatripper. “He said he would be happy to meet with us at any time today and to ask for him when we enter Gringotts. He also applauds my initiative to obtain a wizarding guardian and have my seat in the Wizengamot taken up. Throatripper will have all the paperwork prepared ahead of time for us, and all he’ll need is some signatures and blood, as is the case with wizarding law, and I’ll be set. We’re also getting a tour of the family vault today, as well as my trust vault. He says that besides gold in my trust vault, there are also books, art, and clothing.” Padma nodded her assent to the plan, and Hermione noticed the softness in her eyes.

Padma had noticed how emotional the photograph had made Hermione. Not for the first time, Hermione was thankful that Padma had been sorted into her house and was her roommate. The other girls in their room were friendly and intelligent, but Padma could teach her wizarding expectations for a witch like her. Padma was also the introduction before she even knew about her parents to their faith, which was incalculable. Hermione didn’t know if her rational side would allow her to embrace any particular religion. However, she could not deny the peace that permeated her soul upon hearing Padma pray and recite the Quran. Hermione did not know if that was merely a residual of her mind remembering listening to her parents do this as a child or something more profound. She put those thoughts to the back of her mind focused on what she needed to do for the rest of the day. Since they did not know how long Gringotts would take that afternoon, both girls had agreed to go to the library after breakfast to work on homework. As the girls were finishing their breakfast, they saw both Professor’s McGonagall and Flitwick enter and sit at the teacher’s table next to each other. The girls approached the teachers as they needed to speak to them about the plans today. “Good morning, professors. We have heard from Padma’s father and my account manager. They are both willing to meet us at Gringotts today. Her father was already planning a trip to Diagon Alley, so it is convenient for him today. We were hoping to leave around noon and have lunch at the Leaky with her father before going to Gringotts if that is permissible.” The two professors exchanged a glance, and she could tell they had already discussed the situation. “You girls should come to my office at ten till noon, and I’ll help transport you through my floo to the Leaky Cauldron. I’m going to do my shopping in Diagon and then will meet you at the Leaky Cauldron around six pm for dinner and a return to the school.” Professor McGonagall looked at the girls to see if this plan was agreeable, and they both nodded to her excitedly. 

The girls both took their leave and left the Great Hall and made their way to the library as they had brought their school books with them. On occasion, the girls enjoyed studying outside near the lake, but today was a rainy and windy day as fall was well on its way. They had essays due for all of their classes, even flying class. So far, they had mostly dealt with magical theory, although they had small bits of magic in transfiguration, charms, and potions. Flying on a broom was a different type of magic, of course. The girls had decided to work on different essays simultaneously so that they could assist each other. Hermione took the potions essay since they assumed her memory would serve them well with potions ingredients and potions theory. Padma was heavily interested in transfiguration, so she started with that essay first. Hermione finished her potions essay a couple of hours later, just before eleven am, and began to read one of the library books on potions. Padma finished up about ten minutes later and checked the time. 

“We need to take these books up and drop them off in our room before we go to meet Professor McGonagall. Also, since I will be traveling, I need to do my prayer before I leave.” Hermione quickly assented to this plan and thought she forgot to consider her friends' faith in planning when they were leaving. She knew that her friend always prayed around noon each day as part of her ritual prayers. But in her haste to go to Gringotts, she forgot to take this into account for both her friend and her father. The girls rushed up to their room and stored their books in their respective trunks. Padma pulled out her prayer rug and a hijab from her wardrobe before going into the bathroom to do her ablutions. Hermione once again watched her friend as she had that morning and was calmed about her trip today by observing her peaceful face as she prayed and the rhythmic recitation of the Arabic. 

Once Padma had finished the prayer, she put up her materials, and they headed to Professor McGonagall’s office to meet her and use her floo connection. They arrived at ten till noon as directed, and Professor McGonagall already had the flame for her fireplace lit and the floo powder sitting on her desk. “Ah, thank you, girls, for being punctual; it is appreciated. You two can go through together. It will be easier for Miss Shafiq. I will come through directly after, but I won’t be staying at the Leaky Cauldron, as I said earlier.” Padma nodded, walking over to the desk and grabbed a handful of the floo powder. Before going over to the front of the fire and offering her hand to Hermione. “So, we don’t get separated during the trip, it won’t take long, of course, but it has happened. My sister and I traveled to my aunt’s this way once, and we made the mistake of not holding hands. Parvati ended up at the neighbor’s house a mile down the road stuck in a chimney because they didn’t have their floo open for guests.” Hermione walked over and grabbed her friend’s hand, and they stepped into the floo “Leaky Cauldron!” Padma exclaimed, and in seconds the spinning stopped. They stepped out into the small back room of the pub where the floo was located. 

“Father!” Padma said excitedly and went to hug a well-dressed man in a dark tailored suit. “Father, this is my friend Hermione Shafiq that I wrote to you about. Hermione, this is my father, Aadrik.” Hermione had stepped closer to the pair to greet her new magical guardian and allow Professor McGonagall to exit the floo when she came through. “Mr. Patil, it is a pleasure to meet you. I’m grateful for your acceptance of my request to be my magical guardian. Since muggles raised me, I do not understand many of my responsibilities as a witch from such a family. I also deeply appreciated the Eid photo that you sent me. I have a dimly lit photo of our time in Africa, but nothing showed how lovely my mother was. I promise that I am going to treasure that.” Mr. Patil raised Hermione’s hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles in a gentlemanly fashion with a slight bow. “Please dear, think nothing of it. I am grateful that the photo means so much to you and am glad my wife and I had it. Padma’s mother is the one who remembered we had it and located it to include in our letter to Padma. I will pass along to her your thanks. Please call me Aadrik. None of my daughter’s friends call me Mr. Patil, and you shouldn’t either, especially as I will function as your magical guardian. Now, let us go out into the Leaky and enjoy our lunch, and we can talk.” At this moment, the floo behind them flashed again and out stepped Professor McGonagall dressed somewhat more fashionably than the usual black robes she wore while teaching. “Aadrik, it is good to see you again. I’m glad to see you are here already to meet the girls. This way, I don’t have to worry about leaving the girls here to await you while I go on into Diagon Alley. My errands are time-sensitive, and I must get back to school before too late.” Aadrik smiled at his former teacher, “I don’t think I’ve been late for anything since my first day in your class my second year. I was heavily reprimanded for being late since I had been on time every day the year before. You knew that I wanted to pursue business and reminded me that being late to business meetings would reflect poorly on my abilities as a businessman. It’s a lesson I have not forgotten, Professor McGonagall.” 

“Well, be that as it may, I must be on my way, girls, and Aadrik, you know I’m no longer your professor. Minerva is quite acceptable.” The teacher gave as much of a smile as either girl had seen so far in their first year. And made her way out the back door to the entrance to Diagon Alley; Padma, Hermione, and Aadrik made their way into the main room of the Leaky Cauldron. The trio spotted an open table near one of the windows, made their way over, and sat down to wait for a waitress while perusing the menus. The waitress was over soon, and all three ended up ordering a platter of fish and chips. Padma’s father even allowed them to order a small warm butterbeer due to the nip in the air outside. However, they ordered a non-alcoholic version, which was just as tasty and warmed them to their toes upon first taste. They spent the meal in pleasant small talk updating Padma’s father on the school's goings and their progress in class. Her father was heavily impressed by Hermione’s memory and remarked she would undoubtedly be the smartest witch of her age, causing Hermione to duck her head in embarrassment. Hermione’s intelligence had always been a source of teasing in the muggle world, but here in the wizarding world so far, it was being praised. Not for the first time, Hermione was grateful she had received her Hogwarts letter. After the meal, which Hermione attempted to pay for as a thank you, but Aadrik refused to allow, they got up and went through the Leaky Cauldron to use the entrance to Diagon Alley. Upon entering, Hermione was again, as her first visit, struck by the wide variety of species and races in wizarding society. The trip to Gringotts did not take any time at all, and soon they were once again entering the massive stone doors. 

The trio made their way to the first open counter. “Greetings, may your sword always drip with the blood of your enemies, and your vaults never empty.” Hermione had studied the proper greetings once King Ragnok had made her friend of the goblin people last trip. She could see in the eyes of the goblin at the courteous greeting like his people. “My name is Hermione Shafiq. I am here to meet with my account manager Throatripper. I believe he expects me today.” At the counter, the goblin nodded and wrote something down on a piece of paper before passing it onto the younger goblin who stood behind him as a runner. The trio then stepped in the direction the goblin directed, and minutes later, Hermione saw her account manager coming towards them. “Miss Shafiq, it is a pleasure to see you again. I’m glad that this time we are not in such a rush. We have some business to attend to before I escort you to your vaults.” Hermione smiled at the goblin that she already trusted implicitly. He had done a fantastic job managing her family accounts. “Throatripper, it is indeed a pleasure to see you again. May your enemies lie dead at your feet. This is my best friend and roommate, Padma Patil and her father, Aadrik. I have asked him to be my magical guardian, as I indicated in my letter to you yesterday. I would like them both to be in our meetings today as I trust them both.” Padma and her father both made short bows towards the goblin, as their family had vaults at Gringotts as well, although a different account manager. Throatripper knew the family name by reputation. They were not friends of the goblin nation always dealt respectfully with their account manager through the years. 

“Of course, Miss Shafiq, that is perfectly acceptable. If you will follow me, I have a private room set up for us to do our business. I already have all the guardianship paperwork drawn up for you and Mr. Patil to sign, so that will be done quickly. Then we will move on to talking about your assets, and lastly, we will go to your vaults.” The trio had followed the goblin down a long hallway before entering a room with a handsome mahogany table. Which the four sat down at with Throatripper sitting across from them. “Miss Shafiq, King Ragnok, passes along his apologies. He had hoped he would be able to greet you with news regarding your adoption, but with so much time passing, it is proving difficult. He wished to greet you in person, but just before you arrived, your headmaster arrived with what he said was urgent business.” Padma and Hermione exchanged a small glance between them. They had not seen Dumbledore at the dining room table since Tuesday of that week. Was it a coincidence that he was there the same day as Hermione? “King Ragnok says that the headmaster fancies himself the reincarnation of Merlin or Gandalf the White, but he says he is more like Saruman than Dumbledore would admit to himself. The king should know as he knew all three of the wizards personally, although the war for the ring was when he was just a young goblin.” 

Hermione sat, stunned at the information she had just learned. It had to be a joke by Throatripper. Right? She knew Tolkien had been a wizard. She had learned that much in her Hogwarts, a History textbook, as he was listed in the list of past head boys. But the goblin had just told her that Merlin, Gandalf, and Saruman were all real people in history. Then he added that King Ragnok had known all three of the powerful wizards. Just how old was Ragnok? Or did this mean the story of the Lord of the Rings saga was younger than she supposed? Also, what did Ragnok mean when he said Dumbledore was closer to Saruman? “I can see on your faces you have questions regarding our king. Alas, today is not the time. Given our affection for you, Miss Shafiq, I have no doubt our king would entertain you with stories regarding the wizards of history if you asked. However, we must get down to business as there is much to cover today.” Hermione nodded and looked at the Patil’s, who seemed as shocked as she felt; nevertheless, they needed to concentrate on the business in front of them. The signing of the documents regarding magical guardianship was straightforward and didn’t require much time. Aadrik and Hermione had briefly discussed at lunch what she wanted from him, which was mainly to vote her vote with his conscience in the Wizengamot. Throatripper would continue to manage her finances and report directly to her. This arrangement was satisfactory with Padma’s father as he had his own business and properties to manage and Hermione had a healthy amount of wealth to manage. They were about to discover just how much!

“Well, Hermione, now that we have that out of the way. I have prepared a full breakdown for you of your investments, properties, business holdings, as well as a full accounting of your vaults. If you would look at these and then you are free, of course, to ask any questions you or Mr. Patil may have regarding the information.” Throatripper slid across the table two binders with papers for them to look at and keep with them. Hermione opened the binder and was staggered. She had learned her vault was filled with more than she could imagine last time. Now she had an exact total. Fourteen million nine-hundred and 35 thousand galleons, one-hundred thousand sickles, and seven hundred and forty-five knuts. Next on the list of papers was the housing properties she owned. Hermione learned she owned a total of five estates spread throughout the world. She held a house in Oxford, an apartment in London, a beach house in Jamaica, a plantation styled place in Senegal, and finally home in Abu Dhabi.  
The list of investments she had was intimidating, and Hermione did not recognize many of the names she did shock her. Her family had been early stockholders in Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Sony in the muggle world. In the wizarding world, her family owned the majority stake in the Holyhead Harpies. She knew Angelina would go nuts at that. They also had a minority stake in the Nimbus broom company, Flourish and Blotts, Gladrags, and Quality Quidditch supplies in Hogsmeade. The most lucrative was her family, the sole proprietor of the formula for floo powder! The wizarding government had bought the recipe from her family centuries ago but had to make a yearly payment to her family vault. 

Her trust vault was smaller in that it did not include any properties or anything such as that. But it did contain a sizeable amount of galleons, and she had barely touched what Throatripper had told her she had her first trip to Diagon Alley. After looking over the information and conferring with Aadrik and Padma in whispers, she looked over to her account manager. “We are ready to go look at my vaults, Throatripper. “We are ready to go look at my vaults Throatripper.” The goblin merely nodded and spoke into an intercom system. He could tell the amount of information Hermione had received shocking to her, but she would process it quickly. They made their way to a side door in the room and opened it to where a comfortable cart awaited them. Aadrik looked in shock at the cart and then at the account manager. “I’m sure your thinking of the uncomfortable carts you have taken, Mr. Patil. This is King Ragnok’s cart that he made available for today. He has a deep affection for her, as I’m sure you have figured out.” The four of them climbed into the padded seating on the cart and sat down for the trip to the vault area. Hermione is still thinking over in her mind the idea that this was King Ragnok’s cart. The first vault they came to was her trust vault. They walked up to it, and Throatripper ran his thumb over the door, and it opened at his touch. “Hermione, if you will please come here and place your thumb here, we will set the door to open for you.” Hermione walked over and placed her thumb where instructed. She felt a small prick in her thumb and could tell the door had administered a blood test. There was then a slight humming noise, and Throatripper nodded in pleasure. “The door accepted your claim, not that I had any doubt. You don’t want to know what would have happened if it rejected you.” 

Hermione and Padma looked in horror at the goblin, who just shrugged with a small smile on his face. Hermione wanted her friend to go into the vault with her if she saw something she didn’t recognize. The first thing she noticed was the massive piles of galleons that filled the vault to seemingly overflowing. Padma then tapped her friend’s shoulder and pointed to a piece of art on the wall. It was a kind of decorative calligraphy. “That’s Surah Fatiha, the first chapter of the Quran in Arabic calligraphy. My family has other verses in our home. But that’s the most beautiful one I have ever seen.” Hermione looked at the art piece and was drawn to its beauty, the background was a deep green, and then the calligraphy was a deep golden color. The letters seemed to be raised above the canvas by a trick of the eye. It was gorgeous. Hermione wished she had a place to place it in her room at Hogwarts, but there was no space large enough on the walls there. For now, it would have to stay here.  
Hermione then saw a bookshelf in the corner of the vault that she made her way over too with eagerness. Now that Hermione knew her family owned a portion of Flourish and Blotts, she was not surprised to see several books on magic, all first editions at that. A book marked Shafiq family magic that Hermione picked up and determined to take with her. Finally, she noticed a book decorated with calligraphy-like the painting on the wall and picked it up. “Hermione, that’s an early Quran; look how beautiful the Arabic calligraphy and artwork!” Hermione had tears in her eyes at the beauty of the book’s artwork. It was a family heirloom as much as the book on family magic. Hermione put it in her arms to take with her as well. Finally, she saw a trunk with a note marked salah on it and approached it tenderly. Hermione knew salah was Arabic for prayer and wondered what was in it. She opened the trunk and was in tears as she saw a note addressed to her from her mother. 

“Dearest Hermione,  
It is my dearest hope that I am by your side as you open this chest. I hope that I have been able to teach you how to pray as the prophet, peace be upon him, instructed us. But if I am not there with you for some reason, I hope that you know someone who can teach you salah. When a Muslim woman prays, she is to cover herself. In this chest, I have several hijab and abaya, for when you pray, there is also one of my old prayer rugs. The abaya and hijab are magical in that they will adjust to your body size as you grow if needed. If something has happened and you have not raised as a Muslim, I pray to Allah that you will consider your family's faith. I love you, my darling. May the peace and blessings of Muhammad be upon you as you grow into the beautiful woman I know that you will be.  
Mom

Hermione pulled the first hijab out of the trunk and collapsed in tears.  
To be continued…


	9. Gringotts Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the end of the trip to the vaults and then a visit to the Patil residence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still don't own HP
> 
> mentions of homosexuality and positive references to Islam.

Return to Gringotts Part 2

Hermione cried for what felt like hours. Eventually, mindful of the arms of her friend Padma wrapped around her, quietly holding her as she wept. Padma then began to quietly recite Quranic verses in the rhythmic Arabic she used in prayer. Hermione began to feel her body calm as the rhythmic chanting entered her senses. The Arabic had become a peace source to the young girl as she listened to her friend each morning and calmed her nerves on more than one occasion. Hermione still unsure if the sound of the language she first heard in her recognizable memory was soothing because she remembered it from infancy. All that mattered to her was the peace the language of the Quran was bringing her now. She still clutched the light blue hijab she had pulled from the trunk upon reading her mother’s letter. 

Hermione pulled herself together and returned the hug to Padma, whispering a thank you to her friend. “Hermione, I’m glad I could be here for you today. I don’t want to think about how you would be feeling right now without a friend here. I glanced at your mother’s letter. I’ll try to teach you as much as I can about Islam, of course. But, I know my mother would be more than happy to teach you as well. I know you are not ready to embrace the faith itself, but she can teach you as she did, Parvati and me. We’re both entering a rough time for a young woman, but it also includes the decision about hijab and modest dress for Muslim girls. I haven’t even made that decision myself.” Hermione nodded. She had been thinking of asking Padma to introduce her to her mother, and for Padma to make the offer on her own accord meant a lot to Hermione. “Padma, thank you. I don’t know how long we have been here. But I’m sure it’s getting close to the time we were supposed to meet Professor McGonagall back at the Leaky Cauldron to return to school. I wonder if there is a way we can transport this trunk back to school.” 

The two girls turned their heads at the sound of a polite cough behind them. Throatripper, the account manager, was standing just inside the doors to her trust vault. The goblin had been quietly observing the entire time, goblins had their own religious beliefs, but he understood the power such beliefs had for all cultures and races. Furthermore, he had become attached as far as he could be to his client Hermione in a short time, to see her react so emotionally to the letter from her mother had moved the goblin. “Hermione, we can have the trunk delivered to Hogwarts for you this evening, free of charge. Of course, anything you want to be transported can be placed in the trunk as well.” 

Hermione looked around the vault after wiping the tears from her eyes so she could see more clearly. Hermione walked over to the bookshelf in her trust vault; books had always been her solace. She wanted to see what her parents had left her. Hermione had not ceased clutching the beautiful antique Quran since she had discovered it in the family vault, along with the Shafiq family book of magic. Hermione saw a biography of Muhammad by Martin Lings and picked that up to take with her. She saw an English Quran as well. Padma had given her one, but glancing at this one, she saw another note from her parents. This one would become her private Quran as she studied the faith; her parents had chosen it. There was also a copy of a book entitled Tales of Beetle the Bard. “Hermione, that’s a book of wizarding fairy tales. Your parents possibly read that to you when you were younger.” Hermione added the book to the trunk for sentimental reasons, not knowing what benefit wizarding fairytales could have. Before picking out more books on Islam and Shafiq family history and magic to finish packing her trunk. Hermione and Padma walked over to the trunk and filled the books among the soft hijabs, and abaya’s mother had chosen for her as a young girl. They were thinking of her daughter and their faith even then. Hermione pulled the light blue hijab out that she had clutched as she cried and wrapped it around her neck like a scarf. She knew Padma would have to pray when they returned later, and she wanted the proper attire to observe, Padma had mentioned that Muslim women usually covered their head when reading the Quran. Hermione resolved to start doing that as well. 

The girls walked towards the door and stopped to acknowledge Throatripper with a small nod of thanks. Hermione could tell the goblin was emotional and that he cared for her wellbeing, thankful for having someone else in the wizarding world she could trust. The goblin used his magic to bring the trunk out of the vault for the trip to Hogwarts. He moved the trunk over and set it upon the cart of Lord Ragnok. They had traveled down. The girls also entered the cart for their trip to the surface. “Your trunk will be placed in Ragnok’s office until we transport it to Hogwarts. It will be guarded and transported by his guards.” Hermione merely nodded to the goblin in thanks. She had not spoken other than the thank you to Padma in the vault. Her mind, which had always been her greatest treasure, was trying to process everything. Her mother’s letter memorized by her eidetic memory, the trip to the surface like all return trips seemingly quicker than the trip down to the vaults. Once the girls reached the lobby, they checked the time and noticed they were to meet Professor McGonagall in ten minutes at the Leaky Cauldron. The pair quickly made their leave of the goblins and rushed to the other end of Diagon Alley to be punctual upon their return. Upon returning to the Leaky Cauldron, they were breathing heavily as they came upon Professor McGonagall waiting on the girls in the dining area. “I appreciate you two running back to meet me on time, but since this is not a school function, I would not have punished tardiness anyway. Now, would you like to eat here or eat in the Great Hall upon our return to Hogwarts?” Padma looked at Hermione and had a silent conversation with her friend. She could see the pain in her friend’s eyes and knew others would as well. She didn’t doubt that Professor McGonagall had noticed it as well. “I think it would be nice to eat here for dinner. The Leaky Cauldron has some great food that we can’t get at Hogwarts regularly. I would enjoy a regular burger and chips.” Hermione glanced at her friend with relief in her eyes. She didn’t want to face other people right now. “Very well, Miss Patil, I assume that plan is acceptable to Miss Granger as well?” Hermione looked at her professor and nodded. She could see the look of concern on her teacher’s face as well. She knew that the professor could tell Hermione had an emotionally stressful day. 

The meal between the three of them was quiet. Only Padma and Professor McGonagall said anything and nothing of substance. Hermione was grateful that neither of them asked her any questions and let her process in peace. By the end of her meal, Hermione began to feel back to normal. “Thank you both…for giving me time to think through things and be present with me. I found out a lot of new information regarding my parents today. My brain does great processing facts and figures, things pertaining to reason. But when it comes to things involving emotions, I’ve always struggled, especially when thinking about my birth parents. When I found out, they were making preparations for my life even at that young age. I guess it just broke through how much they loved me. I understood it intellectually, but seeing the proof of it in the vault made it substantial. I couldn’t classify it away and not deal with it anymore. Something is missing. I can’t reconcile them doing all of that for me financially and religiously and not making preparations if something happened to them. The goblins are looking into it, but it’s been so long, I don’t know how they can find out anything.” While Hermione was speaking, she had been fingering the scarf from the trunk she had wrapped around her neck, feeling the material, and knowing it was connected to her parents grounded her. Padma stood from her seat and walked behind Hermione, and gave her another hug. “I’m here for you, Hermione, always, you are more than a friend. You are my sister in all but blood. Professor, I have been thinking. Would it be okay to take Hermione to my parents through the floo network and return tomorrow? I want to introduce her to my mother, and I think returning to Hogwarts tonight would overstimulate her mind. We can relax at my home tonight and tomorrow until evening. I know Hermione has already completed her homework due on Monday.” Hermione looked at the professor while waiting for her answer.  
The idea sounded heavenly to her. But she was also concerned about surprising the Patil’s without warning. “Padma, do you need to contact your parents and ask before bringing me home? I don’t want to interfere if your parents have their plans for the night.” Padma squeezed Hermione from behind. “When we were eating earlier, and you went to the restroom, I mentioned to Daddy that I might bring you tonight. I had a suspicion that the bank trip might be more emotionally taxing than you were expecting. They don’t have any plans for tonight, just a quiet night. Daddy was planning to listen to a quidditch match on wizarding radio, and he expected the mother to be doing some reading in our library. They would be happy to have you for the night.” Professor McGonagall had been watching the interaction between the girls as she mulled over her decision, though it wasn’t an issue. “Of course, girls, I think that is a splendid idea, Miss Patil. I will let Filius know where you are when I return to Hogwarts. Just return to Hogwarts before eight tomorrow evening, girls. I will have my floo open from seven to eight for you to return. Miss Patil, please pass my greetings on to your parents. I will take care of the check, and then I must be going, girls. Please go as soon as possible. I will check with your parents that you are there later tonight.”

The girls finished up their dessert of treacle tarts before making their way over the floo network in the Leaky Cauldron. They knew that the professor would have notified Tom they would be using it to return home. The pair once again entered the floo holding hands to travel together, this time because Hermione didn’t know their destination. Padma dropped the floo powder and proclaimed, “Bag End!” Hermione exited the floo on the other end, coughing and sputtering from inhaling soot on the Patil residence’s name, causing her to laugh at an unfortunate time. “Oh, sorry, Hermione, I forgot to warn you about that. My parents are enormous Tolkien fans and named our residence after the Baggin’s home. I knew you would appreciate the reference.” Hermione grinned at her friend after she had recovered from the coughing fit. It was the first moment of fun she had in a while. The girls heard a set of feet approaching the home entrance where the floo was located, and soon a beautiful woman came around the corner that Hermione assumed was Padma’s mother. “Hello, girls. We had wondered if you two were coming after all. You must be Hermione. I have heard much of you from Padma and my husband today. My name is Priyanka, and you will call me that or Priya, none of this Mrs. Patil business. My husband is your magical guardian, and my daughter considers you family.” Priyanka walked towards the girls and hugged Hermione with a motherly embrace. Hermione knew that they had made the right decision to come here. This was what she had needed after her day. Her roommate sensed this even before they went to Gringotts and made the arrangements ahead of time. Padma treated her like a sister, and she made the mental adjustment in her mind to think of Padma as such. Hermione had been raised a single child, and thinking of Padma as a sister required an adjustment. But Hermione was thrilled the girl thought of her as such and that her family welcomed her as well. She hoped it wouldn’t cause tension between Parvati and herself when the twin discovered Padma thought of Hermione in a familial way. “We invited Parvati to come home as well as girls. We wanted to have a family meal as it were. But as you know, your sister is not as academic as you two. She has essays due Monday that she had not even started yet.” Hermione and Padma both chuckled at this. They knew Parvati to be more interested in social activities than studying, although her grades were quite good. “Padma, I’m guessing you probably missed the Asr and Maghrib prayers while you were in Diagon Alley with Hermione. If you want to go to the prayer room and make those up before Isha, we can entertain Hermione.” Padma looked at Hermione with a questioning look in her eyes, and Hermione thought for just a second. “Priyanka, I have been watching Padma pray for a couple of weeks. I’m going to go with her to the prayer room. This scarf is a hijab. My mother put in a trunk for me in my trust vault. I wanted to wear it tonight and participate in the prayer movements with Padma…I think it would help me feel closer to her after today. Besides, watching her pray is the most peaceful part of my day and I need peace right now. I think participating in the prayer might be what I need.” 

A soft smile crossed Priya’s face as she looked at the young woman in front of her. She could sense the pain and confusion in Hermione. Priya didn’t need to be a witch to know that Hermione struggled with the idea of faith. She also tended to hyper rationality, but those five times a day helped quiet her mind and focused on something more significant. Hermione was not a Muslim, yet she added in her mind. Priya sensed that the girl would say her shahada sooner rather than later. She knew Hermione was going to need guidance and assistance from her and her family in the coming months. Priya also didn’t realize how Hermione’s muggle white parents may deal with the reversion of their daughter to a foreign faith. There was also the matter of Hermione’s sexuality. Padma had told her mother she suspected Hermione was a lesbian. The idea of homosexuality was contentious in Islam, but Allah did not make mistakes in her mind, and his creation was good. Islam did not have the concept of original sin that had corrupted all of the design. It was the choices one made and the intention of making that choice that mattered to Allah. “Of course, Hermione, your welcome to go pray with Padma. I’m sure she has a different abaya if you want to wear something more comfortable than your robes. We will see you, girls, in a little while. I pray that Allah will bring you the peace you seek, salaam.”  
Padma gestured for Hermione to follow her, and they made their way to Padma’s bedroom to change before they prayed. “I’m glad you wanted to pray with me, Hermione. I’m excited that I get to be by your side for your first time making salah. I know you have watched me and listened to me say Arabic in the last few weeks. But don’t worry about saying anything if you are worried about messing something up. In Islam, our intentions are what Allah looks at. He will see that you intend to pray and accept your prayer as good. I think I have abaya close in color to that hijab…here it is.” Padma had pulled a light blue abaya from her closet and handed it to Hermione. It was quite close in color to the hijab she wore around her neck. The hijab was more decorative as it had gold thread weaved through. Hermione removed the dress robes she had worn to Gringotts as she always did to show respect to the goblins as a sovereign nation, her muggle jeans and plain t-shirt underneath.

The abaya slipped on quickly, the loose cloth more comfortable than her dress robes. She was thankful for her cornrows at that moment. Placing a hijab over her large afro would have been difficult but not impossible. Hermione knew she would have to learn how to do so. She had watched Padma place her hijab enough times that she had a basic idea and went about setting the scarf on her head. When Hermione had finished, Padma came over and made a few small adjustments, showing her adoptive sister how to pull it down so they could do the ceremonial washing before prayer. Hermione followed Padma into the washroom to do the ablutions required before prayer, following her step by step through the process. The moment felt sacred to Hermione, and her heart pounded in her chest as she followed out of the bedroom and down the hall to a simple room. “My sister has a spare prayer rug here that you can use whenever you need it. I’ll ask the mother to order you something for when you are here. You need one for Hogwarts as well. Well, I assume this won’t be your last time praying with me?” Hermione looked at Padma with a wide grin. “No, sis…this won’t be my last time praying with you.” The prayer rug that Padma handed her was dark green with Arabic calligraphy that looked vaguely familiar to her. Hermione laid it out beside Padma and looked at her friend expectantly, ready to follow her lead. “Well, first, we place our hands across our chest like so and look at a point on our rug, keeping our eyes open. We then think about how we intend to make salah in obedience to Allah.” Hermione folded her arms with her right across the left as instructed, the weightiness of the moment being impressed upon her. She was about to make her first Islamic salah, instead of being nervous. Hermione felt strangely calm like this was natural to her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her friend raise her next to her ears, “Allahu Akbar.” 

Hermione concentrated both on the Arabic her friend was reciting and the movements she was making. She felt tears coming to her eyes as she knelt in prostration as she had observed Padma do so many times in their dorm room. As Hermione placed her forehead to the ground, she felt an overwhelming sense of peace as she realized the connection to Allah she was making. But not only Allah but to her parents. This was what had been missing from her life. She began to cry harder as she stood from her first rakat and started the second. This was what she had needed since the time in the vaults. She lost track of how many times they bowed their head to the ground, but each time was sweeter than the first. She was at home. She was Muslim.


	10. La ilaha illallah- There is no god but God

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione becomes a Muslim- Short chapter as I wanted to focus on this moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own HP. 
> 
> Positive mention of Islamic conversion.

La ilaha illallah- There is no god but God

Hermione heard Padma end her prayer with a greeting of the angels of each side of her. However, Padma did not stand up but remained seated next to her friend, who was still prostration, with tears streaming down her face. Hermione didn’t feel the need to say anything but remained in the presence of Allah. The weight had wiped out any doubt in her mind about the existence of Allah Hermione felt each time she placed her head down in prostration. Hermione wished that she had grown up in this presence, each day growing up as she learned how to pray. She would have felt this five times a day. Intellectually she knew that Muslims went through peaks and valleys in their sense of the presence of Allah. Padma had told her as such when they had discussed her growing up as Muslim. Hermione heard Padma reciting the dhikr that her friend did on occasion after prayer. Padma was repeating Allahu Akbar, then alhamdulillah. She wandered if Padma knew what had happened in the heart of Hermione as they prayed together. 

Hermione sat up on her heels, wiped the tear tracks from her face, and looked at Padma. “I want to be a Muslim,” she said to her friend with a smile on her face. Padma, she noticed, had her tears in her eyes and just nodded at her friend and stood. Indicating to Hermione that she should stay there in the prayer room. Padma left the space quickly and returned in a few minutes with her mother, who had slipped on her hijab before entering the room. Priya came and sat on her heels as Hermione remained and drew the young woman into a fierce hug. “Allahu Akbar! I’m so happy for you, Hermione. My husband had to step out for a work emergency. But I’m thrilled to get to share this moment with you. As a Muslim convert or we say revert, as we believe everyone is born a Muslim. You need to say what is called the shahada. There are two things that you are stating when you say the shahada. The first is that there is no god but God. The second is that Muhammad, peace be upon him, is the messenger and prophet of God. Do you agree with these statements?”

Hermione looked at the two women in front of her. Each of them had tears pooling at the corners of their eyes. In the prayer room, this moment had the same weight that she felt when she placed her head to the ground in prostration. This is a moment that she would remember for as long as she lived. She took a deep breath and looked at both the women in the eye, first Padma, and then Priya. “Yes…I do. I believe in Islam. I want to say my shahada. I know this will be a big change for people when I return to school, especially for my parents. But to me, this is not a big change. Islam feels like coming home. This faith is what my parents would have raised in me. I have never had such peace as when I hear Padma pray in Arabic and recite the Quran. When my head lay upon the prayer mat in my first prostration, I knew I was Muslim. My heart has been waiting for this moment for eleven years.”

This time both Patil women wrapped Hermione into hugs, and the three women all had a short cry with each other. The tears, though, were of joy and happiness. When the girls finally separated, they all wiped the tear marks from their faces. “Ok, Hermione, here’s how I want to do it. There are five things that Muslims have to affirm that they believe before they say their shahada. I think you and Padma have discussed them from what she told me. But I want to remind you and see if you have any questions. The first is called tawhid, the oneness of Allah. In other words, we deny the Christian idea of a trinity or any faith that has multiple deities. The second is a belief in the existence of angels. Next is the belief in all the holy books, then the acceptance of all of the prophets from Adam until Muhammad, the fifth is a belief in the day of judgment, and last is the belief in predestination. Do you have questions about any of those?”

Hermione took the time to reflect on each of the beliefs. The one that had been most difficult for her to accept when she first started discussing with Padma was predestination. After reading some philosophical writings on the idea and especially from the perspective of Islam, she could understand and accept it. Allah being the most powerful being in all of creation, it then followed that not only did he know about all events in all time. But that Allah also had control over all those events that came to pass. That she was also responsible for her choices in life posed difficulty for her eleven-year-old mind. However, it was not enough for her to reject the faith that had made her heart come alive in the past hour. Hermione knew her mind might never completely understand the two seeming contradictions. Her rational mind understood, though, that not everything that can be understood. 

“Yes, I understand or at least enough for my mind at my age. One of the things I appreciate about Islam is that it encourages a person to continue to study and grow in their knowledge of the faith. Can we say the shahada here, or do we need to go to a mosque?” Priyanka watched Hermione the entire time that she reflected on the beliefs of Islam. She was subconsciously holding her breath as she waited for Hermione’s response and exhaled when she heard Hermione’s question. “No, dear, we can say your shahada here, and now, all that is required is a witness, and it would be my privilege as well as Padma’s to do that for you. If you are ready, I can lead you in the shahada right now.” Hermione looked at her newfound family, and enthusiastically shook her head yes. She knew that this was a critical moment.

“Ok, Hermione, first I’ll say it in English, and then we will repeat it in Arabic. You will recognize the Arabic as I know you have heard Padma pray and something that is repeated in the rakat. I bear witness that there is no god but God, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God. Oh, and you need to raise your right index finger in the air.” Hermione repeated the English with a smile on her face. She couldn’t look at Padma, who had tears streaming down her face while also grinning wildly. “And now the Arabic ashadu an la illaha illallahu, wa-ashadu anna Muhammadan rasulu-llah” Hermione repeated the Arabic slowly and felt something in her heart expanding and growing. She was thrilled that this was happening here and now. As soon as she finished repeating the Arabic, she felt Padma leap across the floor and tackle her in a hug with tears now streaming down both their faces. “Allahu Akbar! Now your officially a Muslim Hermione. I’ve made dua for this moment since you first started watching me pray weeks ago. I had no idea if it would ever happen, especially not this soon. I can’t wait to tell Parvati when we get back tomorrow. She’s going to be so thrilled. She’s also been making dua on your behalf. It would be best if you also went take a bath or shower, I know it sounds weird, but it’s a symbol of all your sins washing away. As a Muslim, your prior sins have been cleansed, and you are a newborn child in the eyes of Allah.” 

Hermione and Padma had finally stood up as her legs had fallen asleep while seated during the prayer and then her shahada. “Hermione, you don’t have to go take your shower right this second. You can come to eat first.” Priya said with a smile on her face at the joy she saw on the two girls. Padma was her daughter by birth, and then Hermione had already found a place in her heart as well. “If it’s ok, I want to go do it now. I want to make everything right. My body feels like my heart and soul feel right now.” Priya drew the young girl into another hug and then pulled Padma in as well. “Of course, we’ll keep your dinner warm for you. Take your time Hermione, I’m so happy for you. We’ll see you in a little bit.” The two Patil ladies walked with Hermione down the hall until she reached her guest bedroom, at which point they parted ways.

Hermione entered her bedroom and noticed she was still wearing the hijab she had put on for prayer. It was amazing how right a simple piece of cloth felt to her. She hadn’t decided if she would be a full-time hijabi. She had time yet. Hermione had read about other female reverts, and she knew that everyone decided in their own time. When she left Hogwarts this morning, she knew it would be a huge day learning about everything in her vaults. Now she was going back to Hogwarts as a Muslim! Hermione smiled to herself as she prepared to take her shower. Her heart felt lighter. Now she was going to cleanse her body as well. Today was the best day of her life.


	11. New Beginnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the long delay, between the holidays, Christmas, covid and a mood. I hit a little bit of a writers block and wasn't able to upload. I apologize also for the shortness of the chapter compared to others
> 
> I still don't own HP

A New Beginning  
When Padma’s father had returned later that they celebrated again with him the occasion of Hermione saying her shahada. Later that night the whole family and Hermione considered this group her Muslim family, gathered to do the final prayer for the night. Hermione was accustomed to listening to Padma pray in their dorm room, Parvati had joined her sister a few times. But listening to the entire family pray together lead by Aadrik was a different sensation all together. Hermione was grateful that Allah had lead the Patil twins to be in her train compartment the day on the train. The next day they shared the good news with Parvati who had also been overjoyed with her friend’s reversion to Islam. 

The following weeks as Hermione learned more about her new faith were revelational to the young woman. Learning the Quran was simple on one level with her eidetic memory she had quickly memorized most of the shorter chapters in English. Hermione estimated that she had memorized approximately three-fourths of the Quran in English. Her favorite surah was that of one-hundred and twelve a short surah packed with abundant meaning. However in order to participate in the daily prayers required memorizing surah’s in Arabic. Padma had provided her with a pamphlet laying out the step by step instructions on how to do each of the prayers and how many rakat required. The issue for Hermione was learning the rhythmic chanting pronunciation of the Arabic that seemed to come so easily to the Patil family. She studied the Arabic language and alphabet in her spare time which dwindled as they neared closer to Halloween. Hermione had written to her parents each week since her reversion but had not yet told them of her becoming a Muslim. She was not ashamed of her new faith, it had fulfilled her more than anything in her life. But she wanted to discuss this in person with her parents. 

Her reversion opened up her social life in a surprising way, there were no other Muslims in the school besides herself and the Patil twins. Her becoming Muslim fulfilled something in her that had been missing. The idea that she was a member of a religion with over a billion brothers and sisters worldwide in a way relaxed her. She no longer had to worry about being alone all of her life. Hermione was smart enough to understand that she wouldn’t be automatically accepted in every mosque or by ever Muslim she met. Being black and Muslim in Britain made her an even greater minority, a minority that she realized some in her country hated. Yet despite all that it settled something in her spirit knowing that this connection existed with people around the world. It astounded her to think that everytime she did her prayers there were perhaps millions around the world praying at the exact same time. Because she was no longer afraid of being completely alone the rest of her life and lacking connection, it freed her to be herself. She began to make acquaintances with the other ladies in her house. The girls in Ravenclaw found that the previously reclusive young woman was a great person, even as a first year to ask questions because she had read extensively. 

Another improvement in her life came in the days after the first flying classes. Hermione had been wary of learning how to fly on a broomstick. Hermione was great when it came to dealing with book knowledge, anything physical had previously been the bane of her existence. The first time she climbed on her broom however it felt right to her. She wandered for the first time what her parents had been like when it came to flying. The Ravenclaw ladies noticed how much easier Hermione’s braids handled the whipping wind of learning to use the broomsticks. The word soon passed through all of Ravenclaw that Hermione’s hair stood up the best to the winds of Scotland. Soon the ladies of Hufflepuff as well were also approaching her. Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet remained the go to for the Gryffindor dorm ladies. Angelina had asked Alicia and Hermione to redo her box braids for her that needed tidying up in the lead up to the first Gryffindor Quidditch match. Padma had asked her to braid her long hair into a pair of french braids as they prepared to go to the match. It was a windy and chilly day and the braids would help Padma pull the hood up on her sweater. Hermione meanwhile had removed her braids and was currently wearing her hair in a medium sized afro. 

Hermione had not decided yet what do do with her hair next. She could write her mother with instructions to order her some new hair for extensions. But that would take a few days and she did not know when she would have time to do the installation on herself. She could ask Angelina and Alicia to help her out of course, but now that Quidditch season had begun they had less free time. There was also the question with her hair of whether she would wear the hijab full time. Padma and Hermione had discussed the issue amongst themselves in their time after sharing their prayers. Parvati had told Padma that she was planning to wear the hijab full time in the near future even though their mother did not. Padma it seemed had days where she wanted to commit full time to the hijab and others where it was something she resisted. 

Hermione being new to Islam did not think she was ready to commit to hijab. A part of that she knew was due to vanity in regard to her hair. Hermione was proud of the work she did with her hair to maintain it and make it look good. A black woman’s hair was a special thing and especially to Hermione being raised by white parents. Her mom’s lack of success with taming Hermione’s hair growing up lead to some unfortunate styles growing up. Luckily, the growth of Youtube had allowed Hermione to research and study how to maintain her hair on her own. Unfortunately, the magic at Hogwarts prevented many muggle electronic devices from working. That’s why they relied on owls for communication with the outside world instead of cell phones. After seeing the picture of her mother with locs, Hermione wanted to begin researching how to start them in her own hair. She knew that if she just did nothing with her hair it would loc with how curly it was. But she didn’t want those types of locs. She had seen some beautiful locs on Instagram and Youtube growing up, they were neatly separated and tidy. Hermione would have to wait until she went home and do the research she needed. She was confident in the idea that she would start locs on her own once she had the needed information. 

Hermione and Angelina had been discussing the idea of locs one day while around some of their friends and Katie Bell who was white had asked the girls if they thought it weird that she thought they would be awesome for her. Katie expressed interest in locs because as she explained had yet to find a hairstyle she liked to wear during Quiddith, this year was her first year on the Gryffindor roster. The french braids she had tried were useful but needed to be redone before each practice or match. Katie was hoping for a long-term solution and the idea of locs appealed to her. She also thought it would be a way to bond with the older Angelina and the younger Hermione. She admired how they looked on people of all races as she had seen on Youtube and Instagram. Both the girls had told Katie that they personally would not have an issue with their friend if she wanted her own locs. They knew Katie well and knew she would not have asked the question without sincere interest and admiration for the hairstyle. Further, Katie did not have a racist bone in her body and was a close friend of Angelina and Alicia although she was a year younger. Katie spent time in the library studying with Hermione, Padma, and Parvati so Hermione considered her a friend. The four girls became friends across houses due to the sisterhood of Padma and Parvati. They were occasionally joined by the Hufflepuff Susan Bones in the library for their study group. Hermione had promised Katie to research how to start locs on her hair type when she went home over Christmas. Katie thanked her profusely and hoped that her mother would not have an issue with the change in hairstyle for her daughter. 

The match scheduled for that day was Slytherin vs Gryffindor and Harry Potter was going to make his debut being the youngest seeker in decades at Hogwarts. The Slytherin team had been trying to bully the young man in the days leading up to the match. Harry was quite small for their age, being even shorter than Hermione. Hermione suspected that some abuse had occurred in Harry’s home growing up, she was not close enough for him to ask him. Harry had grown up among muggles like she had, but his muggle relatives had known magic existed and hid it from him. Hermione had heard it through the Hogwarts rumor mill that his aunt and uncle had been determined to prevent him from being magical. How one would be able to prevent magic in a young boy she had no idea, to her it was the same as one’s sexuality. Magic was a part of a person’s identity and genetic makeup. 

Hermione and Padma met up with Parvati for the walk down to the Hogwarts Quidditch arena. Their other Gryffindor friends were on the Quidditch team and had to go down much earlier to get dressed and final preparations. Seating at the Quidditch games was less regimented than any other time at Hogwarts. Along the way they had also been joined by their other study partner in Susan Bones. The four girls had decided to sit together and root for their friend Katie a new Chaser for Gryffindor. “Are you excited for your first Quidditch match Hermione?” Susan asked as she joined the group of ladies walking towards the arena. “I never had interest in muggle sports, my dad is a fan of muggle soccer and I’ve watched matches with him. He’s a Chelsea fan and we went to a match a few years ago and it was better to watch in person. The atmosphere with the singing and cheering in a group was enjoyable and fun.” Padma nodded at this “Quidditch matches have those types of chants and cheering, but obviously is different than anything muggles have.” The four girls made their way in and sat with Parvati among the Gryffindor students. 

Hermione had been explained the rules of Quidditch and she had seen practices in the distance being conducted. Even though she had understood the explanation of the rules, it was much like seeing soccer in real life. You could understand the rules but seeing it in person was tremendously different. Hermione didn’t know how to explain the speed at which Quidditch moved, the closest she could come up with was a cross between soccer with multiple balls while on motorbikes. While dodging a large ball being smacked at terrific speeds at your body. Hermione didn’t know if every Quidditch match was this physical or if it was just because of the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin. While listening to her friends in the upper classes of Ravenclaw she learned that it was due to the latter. A match between say Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff would be much different and played with higher skill. The other thing that astounded Hermione was that a match would not end until the snitch was captured. She had heard stories of matches that lasted literally months. Hermione hoped her first Quidditch match would not be that long, it was hard for her to watch. She had her own taste of flying and for the first time she considered whether this might be something she might enjoy. Hermione had been thinking about something for an essay when she noticed everyone around her start to cheer and chant for Harry and she wandered what was happening. She stood up with the crowd and watched as Harry neared the snitch, suddenly Harry was on the ground and making a choking motion. After a few short seconds he coughed the snitch up and held it up to the referee Madame Hooch. Gryffindor had won the first Quidditch she had witnessed.


	12. Christmas Holiday- Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still don't own HP, I had hoped to get to the conversation with her parents. But I didn't want people to wait longer to continue the story.

The Christmas Holiday

The weeks after Harry's first Quidditch match had been unimaginable to Hermione. Harry had already been a celebrity in the wizarding world before he even stepped foot into Hogwarts as the boy who lived. His reputation as the boy who lived had preceded him to the school, and Hermione could see that the title weighed on him even from afar. Many of the other Hogwarts students, Harry, was a legend and raised on fictional works on his life. Some of the students had trouble it was apparent in separating fact from fiction and expected him to be a phenomenal wizard from his first wave of a wand. Especially for the students in Slytherin, Harry was not an instant wizarding success seemed to be a huge blow. Hermione had read a little bit about the First Wizarding War on her own and understood that some of the Slytherin students had connections to the Dark Lord, even if some of them had claimed to be under a spell. For Harry to have the cause of the Dark Lord's fall when it was apparent he was not a tremendous wizard in his first classes seemed to upset some of the students. But then Harry had caught the snitch in his first-ever Quidditch match in his mouth, and now his legend was back on the rise again. 

Hermione heard Ron, Harry, and Neville a week later discussing Snape and Halloween as they walked the corridors. Hermione joined in the conversation as Ron tried to explain that Harry had noticed Snape bleeding from his leg when they had arrived to check on the students in the women's bathroom. The theory from Ron and Harry was that Snape by a sizeable three-headed dog the boys had encountered. They told Hermione about Draco trying to trap them by challenging them to a duel and stooling them off to Filch. Ron, Harry, and Neville, who had come along trying to keep the boys out of trouble, had run from Filch and accidentally ended up in the forbidden hallway on the third floor. The boys had opened a door and were greeted by a large barking three-headed dog, which Neville had noticed was standing on top of a door of some kind. The boys then came up with the idea that Snape had been injured by the dog trying to get into whatever entrance the dog was guarding. Hermione listened to the story and then opened her mouth to explain why that was a bad idea. Snape was a teacher. Sure he didn't like Harry but knew it wouldn't be worth it. She just shook her head and walked away from the group of boys. 

In truth, Hermione had other things more pressing on her mind than a possible conspiracy involving her potions professor. The Christmas holiday was coming that weekend, and she would be returning home a dramatically different person than the shy bookworm that had started Hogwarts. Her parents had been concerned about sending the shy Hermione off to a boarding school, especially one they had no hope of locating themselves. Professor McGonagall had done her best to reassure them that nothing perilous happened at the school and she would be perfectly safe. There was no safer place than Hogwarts. She had told the Granger's. Hermione had neglected to tell her parents about her encounter with the troll in the girl's bathroom on Halloween. She had not suffered any injuries besides a few bumps and bruises, so she didn't see the need to worry her muggle parents. From the letters she had received from her parents, she could tell by reading between the lines that they were happy she had made at least one close friend in Padma, even telling Hermione to invite her to visit over the holidays. The Patil family had extended the same offer to Hermione not just because they enjoyed the young girl, but because Padma's father had matters to discuss with her financially as her guardian. 

Her mom and dad knew that she had discovered her birth name and were thrilled for her. Beyond that, Hermione had not discussed anything with her parents about what the name Shafiq meant in the wizarding world. She had told her parents when she found out about her parents already paying off her tuition for all seven years of the wizarding world. Hogwarts' tuition cost was less than they had been paying for the private school, but was a not-insignificant amount of money. She was grateful her birth parents had seen fit to plan so far ahead for her future. Hermione was also able to inform her parents that she would not be attending a muggle university after Hogwarts, so they did not need to put aside her future education. She and Padma had brief discussions about the jobs that existed in the wizarding world, and suddenly she had a whole new avenue of employment open to her. Even though she was only eleven, Hermione had already begun thinking about what she might want to pursue. To Hermione, the most appealing option was to go into the Department of Mysteries. Hermione loved to learn, and to work in a field like that seemed ideal. Meanwhile, some professors had commented on her already exemplary course work that she could pursue a mastery in a wizarding field and teach at Hogwarts if she so chose. 

Hermione's letters had touched on these topics with her parents, and she could tell they had finally given up the idea of her becoming a dentist like themselves. While Hermione had at one point wanted to be just like her parents. What child didn't at some point? As she grew up and began to learn about physics, working with teeth no longer seemed appealing. There was one topic that existed in the background of every letter she wrote home. Hermione had not yet broached the subject of her becoming a Muslim to her non-religious parents. She was not expecting their reaction to being overtly hostile. But Hermione knew she would have to address the topic pretty early on with her parents. Depending on how long travel back home took and when she arrived, she might have to make up some of her prayers. Padma and her family had been encouraging Hermione not to jump straight to the five prayers immediately. She had started first with the Fajr (first prayer of the day), which she had been waking up to watch Padma do for a few weeks. Then she began to incorporate Isha (last prayer before bed) into her nightly routine. The next two prayers she had incorporated into her practice were Dhuhr (midday) and Asr (afternoon). She still had one final prayer that of Maghrib (sunset) to incorporate into her routine. With each prayer, she included her days become more settled. The reminder to put her focus back on Allah throughout the day and not the world's troubles comforted her. 

"Hermione, are you listening, dear?" the words from Penny the Ravenclaw head girl broke her out of thoughts of home. "I'm sorry, Penny, what were you saying?. Penny looked at Hermione and grinned. "I was saying thank you. I heard about your performance in Charms class from Professor Flitwick. You got Ravenclaw 25 points in class today! Every year I feel like Ravenclaw starts slightly behind the eight balls when it comes to the House Cup. Our Quidditch performance usually puts us on the wrong foot. Your class performances, though, are keeping us closer. Don't get me wrong. We always claw a slight advantage in the classroom. But you're a major difference-maker in our point total from last year at this point." Hermione ducked her head and slightly wished she hadn't removed her long extensions. She didn't have the curtain of braids to hide behind. "I’m also happy to see you have made friends outside of our house. Professor McGonagall always asks us, prefects, to keep an eye out for those coming for muggle backgrounds. She was, in particular, worried about you, if I can be honest. She expressed that you were perhaps an extreme introvert and would spend more time than healthy in the library. I love to research as well, but even I have limits in the library.” Hermione was touched that the matronly professor had asked the prefect to keep an eye out for her. She was also surprised her friends outside her house had been noticed. 

“Do you have any plans with friends over the holidays” Penny inquired with a smile. “Yes, at least as long as my parents approve. I’ve been invited to join the Patil’s at their place to see how wizarding Christmas is. My parents and I normally do our Christmas activities on Christmas Eve since it is just us three. Then we sleep in on Christmas Day and have a nice brunch. Padma’s mother offered to come and pick me up early on Christmas Day so that I can go there.” The Ravenclaw Head Girl nodded. “Have a nice Holidays!” Hermione returned the greeting and continued to her dorm.

Time Skip to two days later and her arrival at home. 

The trip home for the holidays was uneventful. She shared a cabin with her Ravenclaw roommates and Katie Bell, Parvati Patil, and Susan Bones. The Gryffindor Quidditch team and Ron were in the cabin next to them, so there was some intermingling. Hermione had made many dua during her daily prayers, and whenever she had some free time to do so, her prayer was focused on one thing, that her parents would accept her being a Muslim. The girls in her train compartment knew about her conversion. They were her closest friends. They also knew her birth name as well. Despite the reputation young teenage girls had for being gossiped about, the secret had not escaped her small group, and for that, she was grateful. The girls accepted her entirely as she had never had those types of relationships in her life. The Patil twins had both expressed to her that their parent's home was open to her if she was rejected. Susan Bones being the Hufflepuff of the group, also offered her home to Hermione. 

When the train pulled into King’s Cross, Hermione could not see her parents waiting on the platform. She suspected they could not remember how to get through the barrier. She was grateful for it in some respects. It allowed her to take her time getting off the train, offering up a final dua to Allah for his mercy. When she finally exited the train, she saw the Patil family waiting for her. Hermione smiled at the family that had accepted her as one of their own. “You did not think we would let you go through the barrier without saying Happy Holidays, did you, Hermione?” Parvati said to Hermione with a large grin on her face. The two twins each came on the side of Hermione and wrapped their arms through hers. Their father placing Hermione’s trunk on the trolley with his daughters as they made their way to exit the barrier. As soon as they exited the barrier to platform 9 ¾ Hermione spotted her parents waiting on the platform bundled up against the cold December weather in London. Hermione broke away from the Patil sisters and ran to her parents, embracing them each at the same time. “Mum, Dad, I’ve missed seeing you so much. I would like to introduce you to my friends. This is the Patil family. They have been helping me learn about wizarding society. As I told you in my letters, I found out my birth name and that I am a pureblood in wizarding society. The girls have been helping me learn what that means. Their dad is helping me with being an adult representative when it comes to dealing with things.” Hermione said in a rush, her nerves showing in her speech pattern. She was desperate for her parents to get along with the Patil’s. 

“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Patil, we are Daniel and Emily Granger, you can call me Dan. Our daughter has mentioned your family to us in her letters. We are so grateful for you helping her integrate herself into wizarding society. I would be lost when it comes to dealing with things like goblins and pureblood society.” Padma’s father extended his hand with a large smile as well. “Dan, it is indeed a pleasure to meet you. My name is Aadrik, and this is my wife, Priya, our daughters Padma and Parvati. Our daughter Padma is in the Ravenclaw dorm with your daughter, as I’m sure she’s told you in her letters. It has been our pleasure to know your daughter and me, and Priya think of her as our third twin daughter in our hearts. Pureblood society and goblins are difficult for me to deal with, and I grew up in it. I couldn’t imagine an eleven-year-old trying to make it on her own.” Hermione’s heart had swelled at Aadrik telling her parents they considered her their daughter and a triplet with Padma and Parvati. Both of the Patil parents had called her their daughter, but it meant more that they would express it to her parents. 

“Thank you for taking Hermione into your family and making her your own. When she wrote to us and told us you had adopted her, it helped put our hearts at ease. As a mother, as I’m sure your wife would agree, it’s hard to be separated from your daughter. Dan and I could not get to Hogwarts or Diagon Alley without a lot of assistance. As I’m sure, you noticed we couldn’t figure out how to get on the platform today to greet Hermione. She’s told us about you having her to your house for dinners on the occasional weekend.” Priya looked at her daughters and Hermione, her daughters having rejoined their arms to Hermione, not wanting to let go of their adoptive sister until necessary. “My husband and I remember what it was like living in the dorms at Hogwarts, the food is excellent, of course, but it tends to be lacking in variety, the same foods each week in a different rotation. It is our honor and pleasure to have your daughter in our home. She is a pleasant and well-behaved young lady. You and your husband should be very proud of the woman you have raised. Before we leave, I do want to bring up something. We would like to see Hermione over the holidays, as Aadrik said we consider her daughter. Wizarding customs around Christmas are different than yours. Hermione said that you do your Christmas traditions on Christmas Eve. If it would be at all possible, I would dearly like to come early on Christmas morning and take Hermione to spend the day with us. You can discuss this, of course, and don’t have to respond today. Hermione can reach us by owl once you have decided.” 

Hermione tensed slightly as she had not expected Priya to bring this up now but relaxed as her parents looked at each other and smiled and nodded. “My wife and I don’t need to discuss it. We knew that Hermione might want to spend time with a wizarding family over the holidays as well. We would be grateful to you for accepting her into your home and sharing your Christmas with her. We can make arrangements closer to the day about what time you can come to pick her up.” Padma, Parvati, and Hermione all squealed in excitement and did a group hug at the fact they would be able to spend Christmas Day together. Hermione had not yet bought presents for any of the Patil’s. She wanted to buy their gifts in muggle London. She had some general ideas about what she wanted to purchase.   
“Hermione, I hate to cut this short, but your mother and I are quite chilly. We got here early so we could find the platform, but then couldn’t find the platform. We also have dinner in the crockpot at home.” Hermione giggled at the idea of her parents wandering around King’s Cross trying to find the platform. She turned and hugged each of the Patil family in turn ending with her best friend Padma, of course. “I’ll be making dua for you until I hear from you about how the conversation goes. I love you, my sister.” Padma whispered in her ear as the girls said their goodbye on the platform, each with tears pooling in their eyes. Hermione turned away from the Patil family and joined arms with her mother as her father took her trunk as they made their way to their car.


	13. Christmas Holiday- Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione finally has the discussion with her parents about becoming Muslim

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still don't own Harry Potter.

Christmas Holidays- Part 2

The ride home from King’s Cross to the Granger home was quiet other than occasional small talk. Hermione was nervous to talk to her parents about her reversion to Islam but didn’t want to do it in the car. She wanted her parents to be able to look her in the eye and see how serious she had thought about this decision. Even though she was not even a teenager, she had always been serious, and her parents knew her highly intelligent. Whether her parents would remember that when it came to the discussion was another matter, Hermione knew that the discussion would be highly emotional. The Granger’s were not religious by nature and rarely attended any church building services besides weddings and funerals. She had asked her parents about it once when she became aware of some of her friends' religious nature, although religion in itself was on the decline in Britain. They had responded that they respected those who practiced religion, but it was not for them. 

When they arrived home, her father insisted on getting her trunk from the car's boot even though Hermione had it charmed before they left Hogwarts to be super light. A part of her worried that she would be expelled from her home, and she wanted to transport the trunk by herself. They had entered the house, and her dad was about to transport the box up to her room when she finally spoke up. “Mum, Dad, can I please speak to you before we get started with dinner and everything? It’s pretty important.” Hermione noticed the concerned look that passed between her parents, but they looked at her and nodded before going to sit on the living couch together holding hands. Hermione stood in front of them, wringing her hands and taking a few deep breaths before beginning. “Mum, Dad, you guys know that when we went to Gringotts together, we found out my birth parents' surname was Shafiq. I discovered later that my parents were Muslim. The next time I went to Gringotts, I went and looked through my vaults. I had to name someone as my wizarding proxy for the wizarding parliament, Wizengamot. I chose Aadrik Patil, who you just met at King’s Cross. Their family is Muslim as well. Very early on in the semester, I saw Padma doing her morning prayers in our dorm, and they struck me as very beautiful and touched my heart for a reason I did not know. After discovering my parents' faith, I realized that I would have grown up in my early years before watching my parents, especially my mother, in her daily prayers. Anyway, as I said, when I went and toured my inheritance vaults in particular, I discovered a beautiful Quran that my parents had purchased for me as a child, as well as some hijabs and other Muslim clothes. My mother had left me a note in the Quran. In the letter, she said that if something happened to her and my father, she hoped that I would still grow up as a Muslim. After reading through the Quran, they left me and discussed many things with Padma and Parvati as they explained the religion to me. I decided to follow my birth parents' wishes and become a Muslim. I didn’t tell you in a letter because I thought this was best discussed in person.”

Hermione paused as she had to catch her breath. It felt to her like she had been talking for a long time on a single breath. Her parents were looking at each other and appeared to be discussing with only their eyes. If Hermione wasn’t sure her parents were muggles, she would have thought they were discussing using magic. She could see some tears had pooled in her mother’s eyes, but neither seemed angry. They both turned after a couple of minutes, and her dad spoke first. “Hermione, if any other 11 years old had made such a huge decision without talking to her parents, the parents would rightly think the child had gotten in over their heads. While neither of us is happy that you made this decision without talking to us ahead of time, we know you would not make such a decision lightly. I assume you wanted to tell us this now so you would be able to practice your faith while here?” Hermione merely nodded, afraid to speak at the moment, worried she would break into tears. Her mother was next. “Your father and I are okay with you were practicing your religion in our home. You can read your Quran, pray, whatever you need to do. I would be uncomfortable for now you going to services on your own as you are only eleven, at least until I meet someone I feel I can trust. We’re also going to do our research so we can at least somewhat understand your new faith. Do you think the Patil’s would be willing to meet with us and discuss questions?” 

“I know they would be happy to do that. I asked Padma a few weeks ago to ask her parents that, and they said they would do that at your convenience. I was worried that you might be upset and ask me to leave home completely. Both Padma and my friend Susan Bones offered to let me live with them if I needed them. I’m glad I’m not going to have to take them up on it; that’s why my trunk was so light. I wanted to be able to transport it myself if needed. I know you guys probably have many questions based on how the media portrays Islam, and I’ll do my best to answer them. I want to let you guys know that I felt like I had come home to something I had long forgotten when I became Muslim. I’m happy, and after I converted, I began to make my new friends outside of the Ravenclaw house. It feels like it unlocked a part of my personality, and my roommates have noticed. I’m always going to be thankful that Padma ended up being a dorm mate.”

“Hermione, you mentioned your mother had left some hijabs and other clothes for you in your inheritance vault. You are not wearing one now, is there a reason for that?” her mother asked. “For right now, I only wear one when I pray. I have some that I can slip on pretty easily. Most Muslim girls do not decide to wear a hijab full time until their first periods. I haven’t had mine yet. I would have mentioned that. Padma, her mother, and sister have all told me I don’t have to decide that soon. They know other female reverts who have waited years before finally deciding to wear it, and some Muslim women never wear it full time. I think I will wear it full time eventually but maybe not until I leave Hogwarts or even until I get married.” Both her parents nodded in understanding at that, her mother speaking to her again. “I have seen some Muslim women around London. Some of the headscarves are very pretty. Can I see you next time you put on one?” 

Hermione smiled at the soft-spoken request from her mother. She was not expecting this one so soon from her mother but had thought it would come eventually. “The reason I wanted to talk to you about this so soon when we got here is that I need to go upstairs as it’s time for me to pray. I’ll come down afterward and let you see my head covering then. I think I have a khimar, a one-piece covering on top of my trunk that I’ll use tonight. I’d also like to show you my personal Quran, and it’s beautiful.” Both of her parents looked at each other, smiled, and nodded as Hermione gathered her trunk and headed up the stairs to her room. The discussion with her parents had gone as well as it possibly could. Her parents were upset with her deciding without consulting them, which she could completely understand. She would not have changed her decision if she had discussed it with her parents before her reversion, but she could understand why they would have liked to be included. Not having to hide when she made her way to her room for her daily prayers or read her Quran was a blessing from Allah in her mind. She knew she needed to send an owl to Padma and let her know how it went. The Patil family would be anxious until they heard from her. She entered her bedroom, pulled out a dark Ravenclaw blue khimar, slipped it on, then pulled out her prayer rug and a compass to determine Mecca's direction. The very act of praying in her childhood bedroom brought her to tears upon completing her prayers. Instead of taking off the khimar, she went and washed her face before heading downstairs to show her mother; she also picked up the Quran from her parents, which contained the note her mother wrote. She walked downstairs with her head covered to show her parents what she looked like with her jeans and khimar look. 

“Oh, wow, Hermione, that is a beautiful color on you, it also looks effortless to put on. Is that your Quran you wanted to show me?” Hermione walked over and laid her Quran on the kitchen counter, and her mother opened it first to the letter from her birth mother. It took her mother a couple of minutes to read the letter; by the end of it, she had her hand covering her mouth, and her body was shaking in tears. She could identify with Hermione’s birth mother's love for the girl she now called her daughter. She also understood more why Hermione had to pursue Islam after reading the letter from her mother. She had her concerns based on media exposure in Britain regarding Islam, but this woman was a mother just like her. She had raised Hermione for over two years, and when they brought her into their home, she was already a brilliant and well-behaved child. Hermione, being raised in a Muslim household, likely played a part in her early childhood development. Her mother also had to admit that the Quran's design was beautiful, and reading some of the passages, Hermione pointed out, she could see the poetry was well done. Emily Granger continued to flip through the Quran as dinner was finished in the crockpot, she realized that she would have to adjust her cooking while her now Muslim daughter was home. At the very least, she understood that she would no longer be serving pork to her daughter. 

“Mum, I wanted to go to London to get some Christmas presents for my friends. I need to go to Gringotts to get some money from my vault and convert it to pounds. I know we have about a week until Christmas, so it’s not a rush. I also wanted to talk to you about my hair. I found this photo of my parents in my inheritance vault. My mom has locs, and I’d like to start them in my hair. I need to do some research on how to start them on myself and one of my friends back in school wants them as well. I know you normally allow me free reign with my hair, but since this is a permanent change, I wanted to make sure you are okay with it. Dad doesn’t ever really say anything about my hair. In my mind, it’s different since this was a way we used to bond when I was little, and actually, I can teach you how to help me with these, maybe bring that back a little bit. My faith was a decision I made without talking to you, and I’m sorry about that. I wanted to make sure I asked you about this before I started the process.” 

While she talked to her mother, she had pulled out the photo of her parents showing her mother’s waist length locs that were mostly black and had a few red and brown locs interspersed throughout. She had seen articles online and on the tube about black women embracing more natural styles, and locs were one of them. Her daughter was growing up since leaving for school in just a few months, and she knew she was going to miss a lot of milestones in her daughter’s life. Her daughter is a witch, was sprung upon them suddenly. Their house was empty before she was prepared. Now her daughter had returned from her first months at school with a brand new faith and wanted to make a massive change to her appearance. She appreciated her daughter realized they were not mad about her becoming a Muslim, but rather that she did not include them in her decision-making process. Her mother considered for just a few minutes before nodding in consent, a smile crossing her face as her daughter hugged her. “What do you think, should I them too?” Hermione smiled at her mother and considered her hair, running her hands through it. “If you want to, it might be a fun thing to do together. I have to figure out how to do them for my friend Katie. She wants them for Quidditch because she can tie them back easier.” Hermione giggled at the idea of her mom being a dentist with locs but was also touched her mom would consider such a change to bond with her daughter. “I’ll have to talk to your dad about what he thinks about my doing that and how it might affect my work at the practice. But, I think it might be fun to have matching hair with my daughter.” The smile on her daughter’s face was worth the entire idea, even if she never went through with it.

“As for London, we can go shopping this Saturday and make our trip to Gringotts that day as well. You know it’d be a lot easier if you had a debit card connected to your Gringotts vault.” Hermione stopped at this comment by her mother, could such a thing be done? There was a lot of muggle invention that the wizarding world had adopted, but many had not. If the goblins could make such a thing work, it might be worth it to them. She made a mental note to bring up the idea to Throatripper on Saturday. Although she hoped the developing pain in her lower stomach didn’t portend her getting sick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have an idea for my next chapter....I might get it up this weekend.


	14. Christmas Holiday- Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione goes to Gringotts and gets two major shocks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had the idea for this chapter the other day and wanted to get it up asap. So it hasn't been corrected for grammar as usual. I hope you enjoy my plot idea. 
> 
> I still don't own HP.

Christmas Holiday Part 3  
The pain in her stomach the previous day was not a warning of a possible illness, but rather an early warning sign of something else entirely. Hermione woke up the next morning with spots of blood on her underwear and in her sheets, she was having her first period. Her mother had already explained to her what was happening to her body so it wasn’t a complete surprise to her. Some of the other girls in her year had already had theirs. Still it was with some embarrassment that she went to fetch her mother for her assistance. They had not planned in advance for this and so Hermione had no feminine products of her own. Unfortunately for Hermione it was her father who answered the knock at the door of their bedroom and she sheepishly asked for her mother. Her father was about to ask why it couldn’t be him until he saw her holding her bed sheets behind her back for the wash and figured out rather quickly the issue. His wife had warned off of saying congratulations or anything like that to their daughter for her first period. Her mother came to the door in her robe and carrying some pills for the pain. She silently drew her daughter into a hug and rubbed her back for a few moments before heading downstairs together. 

“This is a big day Hermione, what would you like for breakfast this morning. Anything special that you want? I know your going to be in pain and probably don’t feel like your hungry. But, your body is losing nutrients especially iron during this time period so you still need to eat. I’ll go put these sheets in the wash and then you can decide, we can even go out just the two of us if you’d like.” Hermione nodded to her mother as she was in the midst of taking the pain pills with a glass of water. Her naturally curious mind had already read up on what was happening and what do to take care of herself. It was still very early in the morning she had woken up for her morning prayers and noticed the blood when she went to do her ritual washing before prayer. Padma had explained to her that Muslim women do not have to do their prayers during their menstrual cycle. At first she thought the idea sexist but as she was experiencing it for the first time she was grateful to not have to focus on prayer right now. Hermione had just decided on asking her mother for french toast and eggs for breakfast, when there was a knock on their kitchen window. Hermione looked over and saw a beautiful grey owl sitting on their window sill with a parcel attached to its leg. “I’m still not used to that method of mail delivery.” Hermione’s mother said with a chuckle as she came back into the kitchen and went to open the window and retrieve the letter. She gave the owl a treat from those they kept to give owls when they brought letters from Hermione or for the owl their daughter had purchased so they could send her post. Hermione’s eyes widened as she saw the seal on the letter it was from Gringotts. 

“Why would I be receiving a letter from Gringotts this early in the morning. I don’t have any meetings scheduled there although I was planning to owl today to see if I could meet Throatripper on Saturday.” Hermione told her mother as she opened the letter and began to read. “Miss Granger, an odd thing happened this morning. When I came into my office there was a box on it addressed to you. I ran some detective spells over it to make sure it wasn’t a trap and then tried to open it. But I was unable to do so. I am going to assume that only you will be able to open it. There is a house seal on the box but I do not want to spoil the surprise for you. If you can reply to this owl and let me know when you can come at your earliest convenience. Your friend, King Ragnok of the Goblin nation.” By the time she had finished reading the letter her eyes were as large as saucers and her mother came over to read the letter over her shoulder, however she couldn’t see anything. “Why can’t I read the letter?”

Hermione turned and looked at her mother in surprise and then turned to the letter again, the letters still clear as day on the parchment for her. “The letter must be enchanted that only I can read it mum. It’s from King Ragnok who we met my first time at Gringotts. He said a parcel appeared on his desk this morning addressed to me that he can’t open. He’d like me to come to Gringotts at my earliest convenience. We were planning to go on Saturday which is in two days anyways, I’ll reply and let him know we’ll be in first thing.” Hermione’s mother nodded in agreement with this plan, as Hermione said they were already planning a trip to the bank on Saturday. She knew her daughter would have liked to go right then and there, but she had a full day of patients at her dentistry practice. And even though they let Hermione go around town by herself on occasion She had the feeling that this was going to be something big and wanted to be with her daughter when she retrieved the parcel.

Time skip two days later at Gringotts

Hermione was always intimidated every time she stepped into Gringotts and passed the warning on the door. Even though she knew she had no intention of ever trying to steal from the goblins and that the goblins liked her and would never cause her harm. Of all the things that happened to her since entering the wizarding world discovering her birth parents, finding out she was a witch, converting to Islam, she still thought being able to call a goblin as a friend was perhaps the oddest. She received regular correspondence on the status of her accounts from her account manager Throatripper and he regularly inquired about her studies. The goblin had seemed almost a proud parent when informed of her status at the top of her classes, well except for flying class, Hermione thought sheepishly.   
She approached the central dais as she always did when entering the wizarding bank. “I’m her to see King Ragnok please. He is expecting me.” The goblin looked down at her with a sneer on his face, it was not one she had previously encountered on her trips to the bank. “And why should King Ragnok take time out of his day to see a little witch like yourself miss.” Both Hermione and her mother looked in anger at the goblin and was about to respond when they heard a voice behind the young looking goblin. “Because you nitwit that is Hermione Shafiq a friend to the goblin nation and myself, I requested her to come have an audience with myself today. Did you not read the memo sent out the day I named her friend to our kind? Apologize to Miss Shafiq immediately and then go to your office and pack your things, your fired.” The goblin dropped his head and turned in horror to see King Ragnok and her account manager Throatripper both standing behind him looking irate. Hermione had never seen either goblin look angry and the sight was terrifying, she was indeed happy that these two were her allies. “I sincerely apologize Miss Shafiq, I did not realize you had such high regard from the king.” Hermione merely looked at the goblin and shook her head. “I am only a child of eleven but from the moment I entered your bank I have always treated all goblins with dignity and respect. It does not matter that I am held in such high regard with your king, I realize that goblins in general do not like wizards and witches. But you would not have lost anything by being courteous.” 

Hermione’s mother beamed at the response from her daughter she had been proud of her daughter’s earliest interactions with the goblins. She did not know the history of the animosity between the two races, but knew that it would do her daughter in good stead to have such allies in her corner. “You are dismissed be grateful that I am curious about the business that brings Miss Shafiq here today. My curiosity puts me in a good mood, otherwise it would not only be your job that you would be loosing. As it is Miss Shafiq would have only had to request it and your head would be a trophy. Now be gone, you have five minutes to exit the premises and never return.” The young goblin quickly turned and bowed to the Granger’s and then to the king and ran off. “Would you really have executed him if my daughter requested it King Ragnok?” Her mother had been shocked by the warning given out by the goblin king to one of his own race. She had to admit she had been worried about her daughter making friends and allies in the wizarding world, Britain had came a long way in some respects. But racism still existed against people of her daughters skin color and for a society that still focused on blood status and inheritance she worried that racism was still prevalent. Hermione had told her of some nasty encounters with people in Slytherin house due to her supposed muggle born blood status, but had laughed it off saying that most of them were the product of inbreeding and not highly intelligent.

“Miss Granger at the request of your daughter the goblin nation would go war against all of wizarding Britain if she wished to conquer. We goblins have long lives and longer memories if in five hundred years the House Shafiq asked anything of the goblins it would be done. The simple courtesy your daughter showed us goblins on her first trip to Gringotts is something I have not experienced from a wizard or witch in centuries.” Hermione had tears in her eyes at the speech of the king and wished it would be appropriate to rush over over and hug the old goblin, but she knew it would not be appreciated. “King Ragnok, thank you for the kind words. Now I believe there was some curiosity that you wanted satisfied.” The king merely smiled and nodded at the young witch and turned with Throatripper entreating Hermione and her mother to follow. “Throatripper can I show you something? This is what is called a debit card used by muggle banks. It is directly connected to my parents bank account. Muggle stores have machines that swipe these cards and automatically deduct from the appropriate accounts. Would something like this be possible for accounts at Gringotts? For high end accounts like myself perhaps charge a small fee for each transaction over a certain amount. You could also charge a fee of say twenty galleons in order to obtain such a card. Especially if you could enchant them to be able to be used in muggle stores and deducted from their Gringotts accounts, with the fees you normally charge for a currency exchange.There is also what are called credit cards which are cards given based on what a creditor thinks a person can repay. If a person wants to purchase something but doesn’t have the money in their bank to pay for them, they will often use their credit card and then pay it off later. However the banks charge an interest rate on that purchase until paid off. It could be another revenue stream for Gringotts.” Throatripper smiled at Hermione at the idea of additional revenue for the bank. “Yes, I think such a thing could be worked out. We would of course waive any fees attached to your accounts Miss Shafiq both for the idea and because you are a friend of our race. I perhaps think it appropriate also that some of the revenue from these ideas go into your accounts. Perhaps something like one percent, which may not sound like much. But over your lifetime and that of any future descendants it could be billions.” 

Hermione had stopped walking at the word billions. Did she hear that right? That would make the Shafiq family the wealthiest in all of wizarding Britain. She had not raised the idea to the goblins in the interest of any compensation, but rather for the convenience of not having to come to Gringotts when she wanted to go shopping in Diagon Alley or elsewhere. If she had such a card on her impending shopping trip for Christmas presents today it would have been a lifesaver. As it was she was planning a large withdrawal and exchange into pounds once her business was concluded. “Throatripper I just remembered I’m planning to go shopping with my mother in muggle London once our business is done here, while I’m with King Ragnok could you withdraw five hundred galleons from my account and convert it over to pounds.” Throatripper merely nodded his assent and walked up behind the king and whispered in his ear and then hurried off in another direction. The king had opened the door to his office and was waiting for his guests to enter ahead of him. Hermione entered and could see the box the king had referenced in his post sitting on his desk. 

“I overheard your conversation with Throatripper regarding debit and credit cards. The idea sounds fantastic and I’m actually upset none of our muggle customers had brought the idea to us sooner. Throatripper was absolutely correct to offer you a percentage but I think it was too low, we will give you three percent of each transaction. Although if I’m correct in what that box contains I don’t think money is going to be an issue for you anytime in the future.” Ragnok had a barely concealed smile on his face as Hermione and her mother approached the box, Hermione gasping when she recognized the seal on the box. “That’s the seal for Ravenclaw house. Why would a box addressed to me show up with that seal?” Hermione looked at the goblin king who held a barely concealed smirk. We’ll have to open it to see. It is definitely not a trap as I said in my letter I checked it for any dark magic. Did anything happen on the morning you received my owl?” Hermione looked at her mother in thought who just shrugged until the truth hit her. “I had my first period. But what would that have to do with Ravenclaw house?”

“I admit to suspecting as much, some types of blood magic are only activated when a young women has her first bleed. That is why this box appeared when it did Hermione. Now if you would please open it so we can determine what is inside.” Hermione and her mother had both looked slightly ill at the idea of blood magic, mainly because in muggle society and polite wizarding society, blood magic was always connected with dark magics. Hermione walked over and almost by instinct placed her hand on the middle of the seal, she felt a small prick in her palm and she knew her blood had been drawn. The box opened to reveal a ring much like her Shafiq house ring and then an empty space shaped like a crown or tiara. “What? Does this mean I’m somehow a blood descendant of Rowena Ravenclaw? Hogwarts a History says all the blood descendants of the four founders have died off. And why is there an empty space?”King Ragnok had leaned back in his chair when the box had opened to reveal what he had expected to be inside. This was indeed an unexpected development but not unpleasant. Ragnok had as much affection for the young witch as any goblin could have for a witch, and had not been exaggerating when he said goblins would go to war on her request. “Yes, Hermione it appears you are a blood descendant of Rowena Ravenclaw herself. That this only appeared on your first bleed means that it was set to only open for a female descendant, perhaps even a female descendant that shared her prodigious intellect. The open space is where the diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw should rest but it has been lost for a long time. However…I think it likely that you might be able to call the diadem to yourself once you place the ring on your finger.” 

Hermione sat down in a chair in front of his desk and placed her head in her hands in silent prayer and contemplation. Finding out her birth parents were magical was one thing, but to find out she was a blood relative however distant of Hogwarts founder was amazing. After a few minutes to collect herself she picked up the house ring off its cushion in the box and placed it on her left ring finger. Instinctively she knew it needed to go on this hand and not the right with her Shafiq ring which she didn’t wear on a daily basis yet. As soon as she put the ring on her finger two things happened simultaneously the diadem appeared in its spot and a loud siren began to go off in the bank. “The diadem must be infected with dark magics. Don’t touch it Hermione or come any closer to it. I can feel the power coming from the diadem it is hateful and malevolent.” King Ragnok said as security entered the room to protect the king but he merely waived them off and hit a button to silence the sirens. He looked at the head of the guards. “Go and fetch head researcher Headcleaver and bring him here at once. I suspect I know what this is and if I’m correct we have a major issue on our hands.” The lead guard rushed off at once, he knew that a direct order from his king was not one to be delegated.

“Why did the diadem set off what are apparently security alarms against dark objects? Do you have any idea King Ragnok?” Hermione asked a little worried she was going to be punished for summoning a dark object in front of the goblin king. “I’d rather wait until our lead researcher arrives to discuss that. But don’t worry Hermione I can see the look on your face and your in no trouble for this appearing when you put on the ring. There was no way of knowing the diadem would be infected with dark magics, I hoped the diadem would appear as it has been lost for ages. But if it is what I think it is, there may be bigger issues to worry about. However, happily you are the descendant of Rowena Ravenclaw, the ring and appearance of the diadem confirms it. You automatically gain all holdings and titles associated with the Ravenclaw name which makes you the richest woman in all the world Hermione Shafiq. The Ravenclaw estate is measured in the billions as it has been gaining interest for millenia. Your title will be Lady Ravenclaw and you gain a founders seat on both the Wizengamot and the Hogwarts Board of Directors, both of which carry a weighted number of votes. Basically Miss Shafiq if you don’t want something to pass it won’t, and anything you want done will be done. Has Mr. Patil ever explained how voting works in the Wizengamot to you?” Hermione could only shake her head, still in shock that she was now the wealthiest woman in the world at the age of eleven. She was Lady Ravenclaw! She had the opportunity with her wealth and influence to affect real change in wizarding Britain.   
“The Wizengamott is composed of three factions dark, light and neutral. Those who are declared neutral like the Shafiq family can lean light or dark or be centrist. Traditionally your family leaned to the light for instance. Each member gets a vote but some votes count for more than one. For example the House Shafiq is what is called a noble house and their vote counts for three votes. I believe you would have encountered young Mr. Malfoy at school, his mother is a Black by birth. The Black house is an ancient House which their votes if a proxy existed for them would count for ten votes. As Lady Ravenclaw you a founding house, all of which were thought to be extinct as you said. The votes of a founding house count for fifty votes. So as I said you now control the Wizengamott. Also a founding house vote does not require a proxy for an underage voter so you are eligible to attend the sessions and vote. Although you may want to name one for sessions during school terms. There has not been a session in quite a while, I think Dumbledore wanted to put off the Shafiq family reentering the fray, although he doesn’t know that you are the heir or that Aadrik is your proxy. A founding house being rediscovered will require an emergency session on Monday to confirm.”

It was at that moment that the guard returned with the researcher in tow. “Headcleaver I believe we have a horcrux in our midst and unfortunately I can think of only one wizard evil enough to create such a monstrosity.” Hermione and her mother could tell by the looks on the goblins in the room that this was indeed a bad situation. Hermione was still trying to wrap her head around being Lady Ravenclaw and the wealth and power that came with it so her mom asked the question they were both thinking. “What is a horcrux and why does everyone look so terrified? I could never imagine any of you goblins being scared of anything this much.” The goblin king looked around at those in the room and saw what she meant, each goblin was indeed terrified. If they were right this was bad for all of wizarding society, although they did not participate in wars between wizards. The goblins had received heavy losses in the last wizarding war for refusing to support the wizard he suspected associated with this horcrux.

“A horcrux Miss Granger is the most vile piece of magic that a wizard can do. A horcrux is used to store a piece of a person’s soul so that they can never be killed. However, what makes the magic truly vile is that a horcrux can only be created by the murder of another with the intent to create a horcrux. I’m sure your daughter has heard of the last wizarding war lead by a dark wizard named Voldemort. If we are correct then this is a horcrux created by him, then he didn’t die the night he tried to kill Harry Potter and still exists out there somewhere. There are ways to destroy a horcrux but this diadem is priceless and so I would like to remove the shard of soul while preserving the piece if possible. Without his horcrux next time he assumes bodily form he can be killed.” Hermione’s mother ran to the nearest wastebasket and threw up the contents of her stomach at the description of this vile piece of magic. Hermione honestly didn’t feel much better. If Voldemort still existed out there then Harry who she considered a friend was still in danger. Even if no one knew why Voldemort tried to kill him as an infant. “What if he made more than one Horcrux? Is that possible to do?” Hermione asked the goblin king who’s face took on a look of abject horror. “That is certainly possible although no wizard of witch has ever done it as far as anyone knows. Headcleaver I want you to do two things at once, begin immediate research on the destruction of the soul shard, hopefully without destroying the diadem. The second is I want you to figure out a way to detect if any more horcrux items are stored in our vaults. This warning system is relatively new and if someone brought it in before installation our alarm would not have picked it up. I hope we do not find another one in our bank, because if there is a second then there is no telling how many he created.” The research goblin rushed off after securing the diadem in a case so he wouldn’t have direct contact with it as he carried. King Ragnok had thought that Hermione being Lady Ravenclaw was going to be the biggest shock of his day. He was devastated that he was wrong. Lord Voldemort was out there somewhere and he wasn’t dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea behind the weighted voting came from another HP fanfic but I can't remember which one or the author. If anyone can point it out in the comments I'd like to know in order to give credit.


	15. Dumbledore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter just to get another POV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still don't own HP

Dumbledore

Dumbledore did not like surprises. He preferred things to happen the way he planned them. As with most people of his age and intellect he knew what was best for all of those around him. Therefore, it was his duty to make sure that those things happened. His goals were simple, he wanted to keep the wizarding world of Britain as it had been for years. There were some in the Wizengamott who had recently pushed for more integration of the muggle born wizards into their society. Dumbledore didn’t believe the pureblood doctrine that muggleborns had stolen magic from a wizarding family. That was ludicrous of course, but in his experience as a professor the idea of muggleborns becoming a great wizard or witch was unlikely. The muggleborn started with an eleven year deficit when it came to learning magic as well as being unable to do magic among relatives during the summer. Though students were not to do magic during the summer before they turn seventeen, in practice they couldn’t detect the age of a person casting magic. So, if a pureblood student practiced magic at home, they couldn’t tell if they had done the magic or their parents. Some parents enforced the decree at home, for example, he knew Molly and Arthur Weasley prevented their children from practicing magic at their home before they came of age. Although he suspected that Fred and George found their way to skirt that rule as well as they did the rules of Hogwarts.

Ever since the heir of the Shafiq family had been discovered by an inheritance test at Gringotts, Dumbledore had put off allowing a meeting of the Wizengamott for that person to claim their seat. The votes between the dark and light factions with the grey in the middle were razor thin these days. After the fall of Voldemort the dark had laid low in pushing their pureblood agenda for a few years. But, now that the horrors of the war with Voldemort had receded those who had backed him and claimed the imperious curse were back in good standing among the wizarding public. Therefore they felt okay once again pushing for stricter regulations against muggleborn and half blood wizards, those who were not members of the Sacred 28. He knew that Hermione Granger was the Shafiq heir, he had known she was when her parents were murdered in Africa. Although the Shafiq family had not been dark, they were members of the Sacred 28. On occasion they had voted on some matters with more pureblood families. When they had been murdered in Africa, Dumbledore had made sure some paperwork went missing. His goal had been for the young girl to grow up in Africa and hopefully attend wizarding school there, never to return to England and claim her rightful seat. He was trying to manipulate the votes by keeping her away from England. Then he had lost track of the young girl and by the time he located her again she was adopted by muggle dentists in Chelsea. He briefly considered making her parents move to another country and take the girl with them. But decided her growing up a muggle would make her more susceptible and amenable to his way of thinking. 

However, he was not expecting the Hermione Granger that arrived at Hogwarts earlier that September. The girl who arrived was brilliant and had already been studying her magic texts and memorizing them. Her grades were beyond any of the other students in her year and he expected her to set records by the time her academic career was over. He didn’t know how her experiences growing up would influence her moves in wizarding government as a pureblood who was raised with muggles. Hermione had named Aadrik Patil as her representative for the Wizengamott, the Patil family was grey as the Shafiq family had been. Would he vote the Shafiq vote as he did the Patil votes or would Hermione give him different instructions? Now something had happened that he could not had planned for dealing with. An inheritor for the house of Ravenclaw had been located. This had massive implications for the Wizengamott a founder vote could tip any law they wanted and would draw people to align with them. His spy in Gringotts had not been able to tell him who the new head of House Ravenclaw was, male or female, old or young, he had nothing to prepare against. Now the Wizengamott would have to meet in two days to acknowledge the founder descendant as well as the Shafiq family. He hoped the new head of House Ravenclaw was going to vote along pureblood lines, if not all of wizarding society could be thrown into upheaval.


	16. The Wizengamott

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione is introduced to the Wizengamott and she spots a young blonde

The Wizengamott

Everyone in the world is seeking that one moment that changes their lives forever. But nobody talks about what your supposed to do after that happens. For Hermione, she found that the hardest thing for her to do was breathe. It was a little over twenty-four hours since her life changed irrevocably, and she still was having near panic attacks at the thought. After a brief rundown of her additional wealth from being Lady Ravenclaw, which was an amount that was beyond comprehension. Aadrik Patil arrived at some point in the proceedings, and he, along with her parents, worked with her account manager to set limits on her spending. Hermione’s wealth made the owner of Amazon looked small, and she was only eleven years old. Once they finished at Gringotts, she and her parents had gone back to the Patil residence. Aadrik and her father wanted to discuss matters relating to her new status as Lady Ravenclaw, and Aadrik suspected that talking to his wife would do her mother good. Hermione was not looking forward to returning to Hogwarts in a few weeks now. As soon as her identity was revealed in the Wizengamott session tomorrow, her relative anonymity in the wizarding world would be gone forever.

As Hermione sat in her bedroom and wrote in her journal about the previous day's events, she realized she understood what it must be like for members of the royal family. Like any British citizen, she was used to following the royal family's events in various papers, reputable or otherwise, daily. When she was much younger, she had envied the two young princes, who, like her, had lost their mother at a young age. The fact they seemed to have grown up well gave her hope. But, now, she understood them on a much different level. She was now going to be as famous as the royal family in wizarding Britain. Not because of anything she had done or accomplished, but by a simple accident of birth. Because centuries ago, her ancestor had been Rowena Ravenclaw, and now magic had deemed it appropriate for Hermione to have that title. Hermione wished that magic could have waited a little longer to recognize her as the inheritor to the Ravenclaw estate. Why the inheritance had been tied to her first period, no one could answer for her other than it was blood magic. Already at Hogwarts, she had been taught that blood magic was looked down upon because it was largely dark magic. But nothing about this magic felt dark.

The hardest part to accept for Hermione as she listened to Aadrik and her father talk yesterday had been the idea that she was now going to be receiving offers for marriage contracts. But they wouldn’t only be from parents of children in school with her. Aadrik had informed her father that men their age and even older would pursue marriage with the young girl with barely hidden disgust. The idea sickened her. Of course, she didn’t even know what she was looking for in a potential mate or even if she wanted to marry when older. But, marrying a man because he wanted access to her wealth was unacceptable, and she had made clear to Aadrik that all contract offers were to be rejected for the time being. Aadrik had explained that due to her being the sole heir of two wizarding titles, she would likely feel pressure to have multiple offspring. One child to carry on the Shafiq name and a daughter would be needed for Lady Ravenclaw's title as it passed through women as the Ravenclaw estate had lain dormant for centuries until Hermione. All of it made her head hurt, and miss her biological parents all the more. While Aadrik Patil had been an invaluable aid since she met him and made him her proxy, he had yet to have to do anything. His first session in the Wizengamott as her proxy would be tomorrow when she was introduced as Lady Ravenclaw. Technically, since her founding house votes could not be given to a proxy, Hermione was not going to have to try to attend as many Wizengamott sessions as possible.

The fact this all came back to her blood status and her ancestry still bothered her tremendously. Even in the 21st century, it was still hard to be seen for more than just her appearances and valued for things besides her ability to carry future offspring. Hermione had worked hard to develop her mind and been valued for her intelligence first and foremost. She was grateful that she had already developed some friends at Hogwarts before all of this came to light, and she didn’t enter the school as Lady Ravenclaw on her first arrival. To the Patil sisters, who had given her bone-crushing hugs upon her arrival, Mandy, Susan, Katie, Angelina, and Alicia, she was just Hermione Granger. Even though they all knew she was a pureblood and quite wealthy as the Shafiq heir, they didn’t rush to bring it up in her defense against her Slytherin tormentors. Her being a supposed muggleborn was enough for torment from them, but when you added her natural hair, slightly larger front teeth, and she suspected her race, the target on her back increased exponentially for the Slytherin house. She had noticed, though, the last few times a bit of sadness in the Greengrass and Davis girls' eyes. Aadrik had told her that both families were aligned with the grey as the Shafiq and Patil families were. Daphne’s mother had been a friend of her mothers at Hogwarts despite their being in different houses. Hermione wondered if once her true heritage came out if things might change between herself and the two girls.

Aadrik explained to Hermione and her father how things in the Wizengamott usually operated with a heavy bias towards pureblood families and old customs. Anything that was seen as different such as magical creatures and muggleborns, which some purebloods still claimed stole magic, whether they believed that or just used it to perpetuate anger among the more weak-minded of the wizarding population, Aadrik didn’t know. Hermione had given a lot of thought about things she was interested in seeing a change in wizarding society now that she had such heavy influence. For one, Professor McGonagall had come to see her a whole year before she began to attend Hogwarts due to her love for her parents and her pureblood status. If Hogwarts had a way of knowing who to send letters to when they turned old enough for Hogwarts, muggleborn or otherwise. Why could they not notify muggleborn children much earlier, hopefully, help the parents and the children deal with unexplained magic cases better? Help the children feel less like outcasts at an earlier age. She well remembered the relief upon discovering she was a witch and had not been imagining things with her magical outbursts. Hermione also wondered if there were wizarding children who did not attend Hogwarts due to the cost of tuition, books, and a wand. She had asked Aadrik, but he could not answer as he did not know Hogwarts' inner workings in that regard.

Hermione had also done a bit of reading since entering the wizarding world on the last wizarding world with Voldemort, and she was frightened but some of what she read. Voldemort and his death eaters' actions were not only called but those of the so-called light after the war. A man named Sirius Black had been thrown into prison without trial and witnesses only a mumbled confession to an Auror while in a clear psychotic breakdown. Then members of the Wizengamott accused of being death eaters, Harry’s rival Draco Malfoy’s father among them, had been lightly questioned about their roles. Many of them claimed to be under the imperious charm and acted against their own will and were summarily released. Hermione wondered if wizarding justice was as heavily influenced by the pocketbook as muggle justice seemed to be.

In her bedroom, Hermione was trying to relax before her life would be turned upside down the next day. She was on Youtube trying to figure out the best way to give Katie the locs she wanted Hermione to give her. There was no shortage of videos on the different methods of creating locs in the various hair types. She decided to use a mixture of the backcomb and crochet methods for Katie to begin the locs. This method she thought gave the best chance of giving Katie what she desired. Her hair luckily was much easier due to its curl and natural desires. She missed muggle technology when she was Hogwarts. She had not yet gotten into the crazes of Tiktok, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter. Her parents had allowed her a cellphone but not one with the internet, only for phone usage. She could understand why Hogwarts blocked muggle technology in the modern-day. Giving teenage children magic access to things such as Instagram and Twitter during school hours was asking for the statute of secrecy to go up in smoke. She heavily suspected the Ministry of Magic monitored social media for examples of magic showing up. However, she did miss being able to listen to music while at Hogwarts.

She had the Wizengamott meeting the first thing the next morning, then hopefully shopping in muggle London since her shopping plans derailed yesterday. Hermione also suspected escaping the wizarding world for a few hours would be a welcome relief after tomorrow morning events. Two days after that was Christmas Eve and exchanging gifts with her parents, then Christmas Day with the Patil family. Her mother and father were now going as well. They enjoyed their time with the Patil’s yesterday despite all the stress. Priya and her mom were mostly quickly becoming friends, and talking to Priya had assuaged many of her mother’s fears about her daughter's new faith. Priya and her mother planned on going shopping together after the new year to obtain clothes to wear when she went to the mosque with Hermione or even Priya. In between Christmas Day and the return to Hogwarts shortly after New Year’s Day, Hermione would do her starter locs in her hair so they would be done before school restarted.

**The Wizengamott meeting**

Hermione awoke early the next morning, although she had not slept at all being too nervous. She knew sleep potions existed but didn’t have access to them, although she had not thought to ask the Patil’s. Hermione rose and did her morning ablutions and then her Fajr prayer, the ritual calming her ahead of what she knew would be a stressful morning. She was thankful her period had stopped the day before solely because it allowed her to resume prayer with the focus it required. Hermione did not want to think about how stressed she would have been without the ritual of Fajr. Hermione pulled the dress robes that King Ragnok had rush ordered when he knew she was Lady Ravenclaw. They were made of acromantula, a type of spider silk, and were soft to the touch and shined in the light. The robes were the dark blue of Ravenclaw house with the house seal in the center of the chest in black. The robes were gorgeous and fit her perfectly. Ragnok had told her they were enchanted to grow with her as she developed into a young woman, with a slight blush on his goblin face. Hermione had thanked him with a bow and then, in a moment of happiness, a kiss on the cheek. After much consideration, Hermione had also decided to wear a black hijab with her dress robes. She felt with just a little bit of shame that it was dressier than her natural hair. Both her mother and father complimented how beautiful and grown-up she looked when she appeared downstairs, having a light breakfast of toast and juice. Her stomach could not handle much more. Hermione would call her mother after the meeting and then meet her in muggle London for the shopping. Aadrik had driven his car over and would be taking them to the ministry.

The car ride over was tranquil. Aadrik did not listen to muggle music, so the radio was not turned on. She suspected both of them were doing silent dua to Allah for the events to come, and Aadrik could tell Hermione wanted time to herself. He had learned a thing or two raising two daughters of his own. He was happy he could be with his adoptive daughter as he thought of her that day. They had parked in a wizarding parking garage near the Ministry. That way, they could walk a short distance, and no one would notice their dress robes. The parking garage was nowhere near being full, most wizards and witches still distrusting the muggle machine, but enough had begun driving to work it became a necessity. Ron had told her that his father, Arthur was one who drives. He couldn’t drive well, he said, but he had a fascination with everything muggle. Molly, his mother, was not a fan of the enchanted Ford Anglia, except that it could fit all of their children and Hogwarts trunks at once. Aadrik lead Hermione through the ministry after the checking-in process. For the first time, Hermione used her birth name of Shafiq in an official capacity when signing in the registry. The guard wizard had noticed the last name but thankfully said nothing. Aadrik had performed a minor glamour charm on her robes to hide the Ravenclaw seal until needed, for which she was grateful. Hermione didn’t want any extra attention until it was necessary, and she rather wished she could avoid it completely. Still, shortly it would be impossible for the rest of her life. Barring an illness that could not be cured or death from a battle or duel would be much longer than a normal human.

Since Hermione and Aadrik were introducing new business and presenting her for recognition of Shafiq seat. Nobody yet knew she was also the Lady Ravenclaw who would be introduced as well. They had to wait outside until the doorman presented them to the floor of the chambers. As people passed by, Aadrik whispered greetings to friends he had in the chambers and pointed out her friends and fellow students' parents and relatives. She had seen the family members of Susan, Daphne, Tracey, and Neville pass before her. Draco’s father recognized by appearance alone without being pointed out to her. Two heavyset wizards flanked him, and Hermione suspected they were the father’s of Draco’s goons Crabbe and Goyle. Dumbledore passed by with only a flash of recognition, and Hermione knew he was already aware of her being the Shafiq heir. Otherwise, he would have been surprised to see her at a meeting of the Wizengamott, would he not? After the final member entered, they closed the door, and Hermione could hear a gavel being pounded and the meeting called to order. Then what she suspected was a roll call to make sure they had at least a quorum of the members. Aadrik suspected everyone was there who was a member to find out who the new Ravenclaw heir was. He also suspected the gallery above would be full of gawkers and members of the wizarding media, eager for the scoop and pictures. After a few minutes, a head poked out and said they were ready for them. Hermione closed her eyes and said a silent Bismillah and took a deep breath before following Aadrik into the chambers.

“My Lord’s and Ladies of the Wizengamott, I hereby present to you Aadrik Patil with a petition to fill a dormant seat of the house,” the doorman spoke as he entered the floor with Aadrik and Hermione close behind. Dumbledore merely nodded to Aadrik to proceed with the introductions. “As you all know, my name is Aadrik Patil, and it is my honor to present Nuss Hermione Shafiq, who wishes to claim her rightful seat as a member of this council. Miss Shafiq has asked that I serve as her proxy to vote as the Shafiq seat until she comes of age or names a new representative. I have here the signed documents by King Ragnok of the goblin nation, certifying that her status of the Shafiq heir has been certified by an inheritance test, and also by the house magic allowing her to wear the Shafiq house ring.” At this, Aadrik tapped his wand to the documents, and they were magically distributed to everyone seated a member of the council. There were murmurs as the members looked over the documents presented and looked over. Hermione noticed Dumbledore didn’t even glance at the documents, confirming her suspicion that he already knew of her birth status. After a few moments allowing for document review, the murmurs had died down. “After reviewing the documents, I ask for a simple vote of Yay or Nay on acceptance of Miss Shafiq's claim to the seat due to the House of Shafiq. All in favor, please tap your wands on the Yay button in front of you,” In a matter of moments, the near-unanimous votes were tabulated. Hermione suspected the only dissenting votes belonged to Lucius Malfoy and his cronies. “With that vote, I, as the head of the Wizengamott, officially recognize Miss Granger…er Shafiq as the rightful inheritor of the vacant seat with Aadrik Patil as a lawful proxy for her three votes. Miss Shafiq, as you are under age, you may leave or retire to the gallery to observe from here on out.” Aadrik turned and winked at her at this statement as he walked to his seat for his own house, they had prepared for this moment, and it was going to be delicious. As he walked away, he pointed his wand at Hermione’s robes and uttered the counter charm to remove her robes' glamour, revealing the Ravenclaw crest.

“Professor Dumbledore, as you can see from my robes, I have other business to attend to as well. I also wish to claim my rightful status as Lady Ravenclaw based on blood magic and the house magic, allowing me to wear the Ravenclaw family ring. Ravenclaw's lost diadem also appeared to me upon putting on the ring, but it is currently in Gringotts. I also have the signed documents by King Ragnok of the goblin nation affirming my status of the heir to the Ravenclaw house and therefore entitled to a founders seat in the Wizengamott.” Dumbledore’s mouth had dropped in shock at this statement. He had not tried to perform any mind reading on Hermione when he saw her outside. He had thought her only to be here on the matter of the Shafiq seat, and his mind preoccupied on this very matter. Hermione presented the documents for him to distribute, which he did absent-mindedly, tapping his wand to the parchment. A cursory look at the papers showed that everything was in order, and his mind whirled. This young woman was now the most powerful witch or wizard politically in all of magical Britain. She was also the most wealthy as well. They had played the situation perfectly, introducing Aadrik as her proxy for the Shafiq seat and then allowing her to introduce herself as the Ravenclaw heir. Dumbledore knew she was a well-spoken young lady already, so her poise did not surprise him much. Of course, a loud uproar had broken out upon the end of Hermione’s speech and the distribution of the documents. Hermione merely waited patiently at the front of the room, Aadrik smiling at her. He was rather enjoying the commotion personally. As Hermione glanced around the room, she noticed other faces appeared to be friendly to her, the Longbottom matriarch and Amelia Bones, who was here as a member of law enforcement. She saw a flash out of the corner of her eye from a wizarding camera and looked up to the gallery.

However, it was not the man holding the camera who held her attention. Rather, a small blonde girl leaning on the railing next to him looked down with a large smile on her face. Even from this distance, she knew that it was the young girl that she had seen with the Weasley family the day she left King’s Cross station. Hermione could not see the young girl’s eyes from where she was, but those blue eyes had frequently been in her dreams since September. She walked over to Aadrik and pointed up in the gallery at the cameraman and his daughter. “Who is that Aadrik? Is he a member of the media?” It took Aadrik a few moments to figure out who she was pointing at with all the commotion going on in the gallery and the chamber below, as well as the noise making it hard to hear her request initially. “That is Xenophilius Lovegood and his daughter Luna. He is the owner and editor of the Quibbler. His wife died a few years ago, and he often brings her with her on trips instead of leaving her at home. I believe she starts Hogwarts next year. Their family lives in an odd house close to the Weasley family. Your mothers were good friends. I think there was talk of a marriage contract between your families if one of you had been born male. But of course, that didn’t happen, and your family was in Africa when Luna was born. Why do you ask?”

Hermione didn’t know how to respond to Aadrik, this young girl had such an appeal to her, and she was drawn despite never meeting her. Hermione had grown up reading muggle fairy tales, the prince and princess meeting and falling in love at first glance. She wondered why there was no story of two princesses who meet and fall in love. Hermione didn’t know if she was attracted to the young witch, but she heavily suspected at that moment that she was deeply so. The rest of the events went by with her barely noticing. Her eyes barely left the young witch in the gallery. She barely registered the heated discussion regarding her inheritance and taking the founder’s seat at so young. However, nothing was preventing her from doing so, as Aadrik had already told her. After a few hours of heated discussion and debate, the vote finally came up, but she affirmed as Lady Ravenclaw. Hermione didn’t care one bit at that moment. All that mattered to her was the young witch who looked at her and waved as she exited the gallery with her father. Being Lady Ravenclaw was not the most momentous event of her day, Luna Lovegood was, and they had never even spoken to each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm deeply humbled every time I get a kudos, or comment and that this story has reached over 1,000 hits. Thank You!


	17. Aftershocks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> what happens next

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally have internet at my place, so I plan to have less time between updates.
> 
> I still don't own HP

Aftershocks

After the vote to acknowledge Hermione as the new Lady Ravenclaw which was nearly unanimous the only holdouts being Lucius Malfoy and his cronies of course. The debate had taken longer than they expected and Hermione was starved by the time the Wizengamott was dismissed. Aadrik and her left immediately and made their way to the nearest floo so he could take her to the Leaky Cauldron to meet her mother in muggle London. There had been yells of requests for interviews from the wizarding media, Aadrik and her had previously discussed the idea and decided they would decline all requests for now. Aadrik had spelled her name when it came the delivery owls. Any mail regarding media requests, marriage contracts, howlers, poisoned hate mail and people she didn’t know would be delivered to Aadrik to monitor and pass on as needed. Hermione secretly thought she wouldn’t mind an interview with the Quibbler if it meant she would get to meet the young blonde whose eyes captivated her.

The time in muggle London with her mother shopping for gifts was surprisingly relaxing for the young witch. Hermione had never been a shopper, especially at the holidays. She did not have anyone besides her mother and father to shop for around the Christmas holiday. This year though she had all of her new friends at Hogwarts to buy presents. Finding the right presents for each of her friends was more fun than she had previously imagined. As she imagined the smiles of each of her friends when they received her gifts it brought her great joy. Hermione had purchased gifts for Aadrik and Priya, Padma, Parvati, Susan, Katie, Angelina, Hannah and Alicia. She had a brief moment of wishing she could purchase a gift for the young Luna Lovegood, but she had not even met the young girl. Hermione took a brief moment to reflect on the fact that her gift ideas for the unknown blonde were a romantic and not friendly nature. She did not understand how she could have feelings for a girl she had never met, as well as the fact that she realized she had romantic feelings for a girl. Hermione sighed to herself as she thought about another uncomfortable discussion she would have with her parents.

For the first time in a long time Hermione began to wander if her parents would ever regret adopting her as a young girl. She took a glance at her mother happily shopping in the store with her and wandered if this new revelation to her parents would be too much. The Granger’s had adopted her as a young girl because they were unable to have children of their own. When she had been younger, like many children she wanted to grow up to be like her parents. Hermione had wanted to be a dentist like her parents and take over their practice, an idea that brought tears to her parents eyes when she told them at the age of seven. Then four years later she discovered that she was a witch and the idea of becoming a dentist like her parents faded. When Hermione found out how rich she was from being named Lady Ravenclaw she had broached the idea of retirement to her parents so they could travel as they had always wanted. Her parents had refused to accept their eleven year old daughters money as she had expected them. That didn’t mean she had not researched ways around their refusal with the help of the Gringotts goblins. Hermione’s gift to her parents though she did not know it yet was her paying off the remainder of the mortgage on her parents home and dental practice buildings, her parents credit card debt, and car payments. The Gringotts goblins had purchased the debt in question from muggle banks and then paid took the money for the debt out of her Ravenclaw account with her permission.

Now if Hermione’s gut was to be trusted she would be breaking another goal that every parents of a young girl dreamed. The girl to bring home the boy who had captured her heart and would eventually make them grandparents. Now deep in the rational part of her mind she knew that she had been adopted and her future partner if female they could pursue the same route. As well as any other medical efforts for two women to have children, if they existed. She was eleven and the methods of two women having children had not been a prior area of research for her. Hermione also for the first time reflected that perhaps the wizarding world had methods of conception not known to muggles. She also remembered for the first time her children would not carry the Granger name. As a woman she had always been raised that she would take her husband’s name. She did not know if it was the same in Islam or not, but in the wizarding world she was a Shafiq now, no longer a Granger. In the coming years she would have to research and see if a possible future male child could be given the name of Granger. Hermione looked over at her mother and noticed that she was looking at her with an inquisitive look on her face. Hermione gathered up her purchases and made her way to the register, she had some level of pride in the fact she was paying for her presents with her own money. In previous years she had asked her parents for money to buy her parents presents. After paying for their gifts the duo made their way to a local outdoor café to have a meal.

“What were you thinking about in the store, you stood in one spot for quite a while and had a distant look on your face.” Her mother asked her while sipping her tea as they awaited their meals. “Do you ever regret adopting me? Adopting from a different race? Do you regret adopting a girl? I was just thinking about dad being an only child and with adopting a girl the Granger line will come to an end. Then I was thinking about all the stress that I have brought into the family since Professor McGonagall came to our door. We had talked about me growing up and taking over the dentistry practice, but now my life is going to be in the wizarding world. I know that you had hoped this would be a family practice and working with me one day was a dream. I’ve seen Priya with her girls and the time they spend together with brushing their hair and braiding it stuff like that, it’s a bonding experience between the three. I know you did your best with my hair and I appreciate that you tried. But we didn’t get to have that with each other. Now I’ve brought all this extra stress on the family with being a witch and going to boarding school. This is before my recent conversion to Islam of course, you have been really understanding of the idea. I just realized how difficult the past year had to have been for you and Dad. Then I thought would there ever be a step too far that you would no longer want me as a daughter. What if I broke another one of your dreams for your daughter?”

Emily Granger sighed and looked up to the sky with tears already pouring down her face. From the first day they had seen this little girl in an African orphanage she had loved her with a mother’s love. Now that daughter was asking if there would ever be a point of no return for that love. She thought she understood where this was coming from and had been preparing herself mentally for it, as well as Daniel. They both noticed more about their daughter than she knew. Emily also knew about the horror stories that Hermione likely would be aware of when it came to parents and their children not meeting their expectations for their lives. The Grangers had known long before the arrival of Professor McGonagall on their doorstep that their daughter was special. How special had been a surprise of course. But not that she was meant for something more than a dentistry office. “Hermione I want you to listen closely and put that prodigious memory of yours to use here. Never forget the words that I am about to tell you as long as you live. Which as I understand it you’ll live longer than a normal human. Your father and I love you and you are our daughter. You have been my daughter from the moment I saw you in that orphanage. Your father and I have long known you were meant for more than a dentistry practice. You say you appreciate the effort I put in with your hair, but I could have done more. I could have went to classes, taken time from the practice and did more to learn. I regret that we didn’t have that bonding time like other mothers and daughters do, but my regret comes from not doing more to learn. Your faith is just that, your faith, it bears nothing on how we feel about you and how much we love you. You also need to know that we will love you no matter who you grow up to love. Whether they are boy, girl, non-binary your father and I want you to find someone who makes you happy and protects your heart.”

“How did you know?” Hermione whispered, her voice husky.

“I’m your mother, I noticed things. Especially when you don’t know that I’m looking. Just today on our shopping trip I have seen you have some lingering glances on girls who look your age. Your celebrity crushes growing up were always girls and never the teen heartthrobs on the magazines. The first thing you wanted to tell me today after the Wizengamott was that you saw a young girl that you wanted to get to know as friends. The look in your eyes was not the look you have discussing someone you want to be only friends with. I think it’s really cute how this girl has captured you with just seeing her. I’m reflecting now on the fairy tales I read to you growing up about those who fall in love at first sight. Perhaps these were true stories in the wizarding world that came into muggle culture as fairy tales. You told me that Tolkien was a wizard writing about wizarding history disguised as fiction, perhaps fairy tales go back even before that. Sleeping Beauty becomes more understandable as a witch using what you have described as a sleeping potion. I don’t think it odd that you might have seen your love already, I had friends growing up who met when he moved to our town in third year and met his future wife. They began dating as much as kids that age could and were together on and off for the rest of their lives, they are still together with kids and grandkids on the way.”

“So me being possibly gay doesn’t bother you and Dad? What about things like grandkids? What if your patients found out you have a lesbian Muslim daughter and take their business elsewhere? Does it bother you that from here on out in wizarding society I’m a Shafiq and Lady Ravenclaw, not Hermione Granger?” Her mom reached out and covered her daughter’s hand and gave it a small squeeze. Not for the first time she noticed the occasional odd look from those walking by or at tables around them, she an older white female with a young black girl with an afro. Hermione had removed her hijab once they arrived at the Leaky Cauldron and changed into muggle clothes. She had only worn it to the Wizengamott because in her mind it was more formal looking than her afro that was ready to be twisted into locs in the coming days. “When we adopted you dear we took you in not knowing what you would grow up to be. You had infinite choices in front of you that would shape the woman you grew up to be. We also had no idea of your genetics, your DNA, what made you into the beautiful young woman we saw that day. For all we knew you could have been carrying something in your body that made grandchildren impossible anyway. Given that your already experiencing these feelings for other girls at this young of an age and even earlier I’m inclined to say it’s in your genes. But even if this was your choice, we would love you just the same. As for grandchildren Hermione Jean Granger, you yourself were adopted as you well know. Your father and I would love any children you and any future partner chose to have, adopted or by medical or wizarding methods.” Hermione nodded and stretched over to hug her mother both with tear tracks on their faces, her mother paying heir bill and then they got in the car and drove home.

Hermione covered her face with embarrassment upon their arrival home as she saw two owls fly into their kitchen window and then exit seconds later. The news of her being Lady Ravenclaw had apparently spread in the wizarding world. She glanced at her mother who just smiled at her “I’ll never get used to that method of getting mail” and chuckled. Hermione giggled in a release of stress she didn’t know she had been holding onto about the mail situation. The girls picked up their bags and made their way into the home, Hermione spotting an owl in the distance flying not quite in a straight line and recognized it was the Weasley owl. She wandered which of the brothers had sent a letter. They entered the home and Hermione immediately saw the stack of wizarding letters on their kitchen table, her dad was watching football on the television and having a beer. “I knew you were done at the Wizengamott when mail started arriving soon after addressed to Lady Ravenclaw, some also addressed to Hermione Shafiq.” It was at that moment that the owl she recognized as the Weasley owl flew in and went to Hermione to remove a red envelope. One of the Weasley’s had sent her a howler and it slipped through the spells Aadrik had put on her mail. She was saddened by the thought of any of the Weasley’s sending her a howler, her limited interactions with them had been pleasant, although Ron could be an occasional prat. Her sadness turned to laughter though when she heard the voices of Fred and George come out of the envelope. “Hermione! All those detentions we received from Flitwick and points lost we expect you as Lady Ravenclaw to return to us! You should have told us sooner, we would have been groveling at the feet of Lady Ravenclaw long ago. We demand you speak to Dumbledore and the professors and prohibit them from punishing us any more for our truly harmless pranks. We offer our pranking services to you for anything you need for as long as we remain in school. Including our brother Ron who is being a prat about the revelation that Lady Ravenclaw is an eleven year old muslim girl. We intercepted Errol before he could leave with Ron’s letter and replaced it with our own Howler. This one is much better. Cheers!”

Hermione was laughing until tears came and her parents just looked at her confused. “I’ve mentioned the school pranksters, the Weasley twins Fred and George, that was from them. Apparently Aadrik’s spell on my mail senses intention and let their howler through since it was not malicious but funny. They are on the Quidditch team with my friends Angelina, Alicia and Harry. Their brother Ron is in my year and Harry’s best friend. If you remember the troll incident I mentioned in my letter. Ron was the reason I was in the bathroom instead of the Halloween feast. He said something mean that I overheard and ran to the bathroom crying for hours. He had been relatively nice to me since, but it looks like he’s back to hating me again. I think if I was around him and Harry too much, I’d be in danger of getting myself killed or even worse expelled.” Her parents were not sure of their daughters exclamation that being expelled was worse that death, but they let it go for the moment. Now that they understood the background to the letter they found it amusing and wished it hadn’t exploding upon its end so they could listen to it again. She made her way over to her stack of letters and began to go through them.

Susan and Hannah were spending the day together and sent a joint letter expressing how cool they thought it that Hermione was Lady Ravenclaw, they already knew she was muslim.

Padma and Parvati were excited for their adoptive sister being Lady Ravenclaw and wanted to know what lead to her decision to wear hijab to the Wizengamott.

Neville Longbottom had sent a letter saying his grandmother had come home with a smile on her face for the first time in ages upon leaving the Wizengamott as she told him that his classmate was the new Lady Ravenclaw.

Harry’s letter said that he was happy for her but was mainly about his latest adventures with Ron. Hagrid had let slip that the dog they had encountered was his and named Fluffy. Then mentioned Nicholas Flamel and Harry asked Hermione if she knew who he was. Hermione wanted to write a snarky letter back telling him to check his Dumbledore chocolate frog card. Harry had ignored Ron’s reaction in his letter.

Angelina’s letter was gleeful that Lady Ravenclaw was going to be a black Muslim with locs, that would upset the stuffy purebloods to no end. She also said she and Alicia had a surprise for her when they returned to school.

Katie’s letter had been in the vein of the Weasley twins full of laughs for Hermione as she pledged her undying allegiance to the new Lady Ravenclaw even though she was a Gryffindor and calling her the Ravenclaw princess. The tail end of the letter asking if Hermione had figured out how to loc Katie’s hair, she was excited to start the process. She knew she could accelerate the process with magic, but Katie was determined not to do so.

The most surprising letter had come from Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis. Hermione knew their families were close and often spent holidays together. Aadrik had mentioned their father’s reaction to her being revealed as a Shafiq heiress and Lady Ravenclaw had appeared to be positive. Lord Greengrass appeared to be crying at one point according to Aadrik Patil.

“Dear Hermione, our fathers have just returned from the Wizengamott and told our families that you are Lady Ravenclaw and in fact the Shafiq heir. Both of our mothers immediately began to sob after this revelation. After they had calmed down they told the two of us and Daphne’s sister Astoria the story, As you know the Shafiq’s were part of the grey faction of the Wizengamott. Our mothers and your mother were friends from their time at Hogwarts. The prejudice between houses not as prevalent then, the first wizarding war had not yet occurred and Slytherin had not yet been blamed for He Who must not be Named. A Ravenclaw and two Slytherin’s being close friends was not seen as unusual in the least. Their friendship survived the war as our families remained grey and did not support the Deatheater agenda. Our parents were heartbroken when your parents were killed in Africa and they could not find out for the longest time if you had been killed. By the time they knew you were living you had disappeared into the muggle world. Both of our families would have gladly taken you in. We have enclosed a photo that my mom (Daphne) had in a photo album. The photo is of our mothers holding the three of us. Your mother was beautiful Hermione and we can see where you get your smile. Both of us deeply regret our role in making your first months in Hogwarts to be difficult. We’re not the leaders in our house for first years, that’s Malfoy unfortunately. Bullying you has been difficult for the two of us and we hope you have been able to see that. We don’t ask for your forgiveness. We ask that you let us show you by our actions from now on. Please allow us the chance to be your friends the way our mothers were. With Hope, Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis.”

The final letter had no name on the front and she opened it with trepidation, it contained only a single line. I look forward to meeting you -Luna

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking about making Luna part magical creature in her distant heritage. Thoughts?


End file.
